Would You Rather - Big Four
by AvaniAcrux
Summary: Hiccup's struggling to get by. The crumpled dollars in his pocket are all he has to his name so when a billionnaire offers him riches beyond his imagination, he jumps at the chance. All he has to do is win a game of Would You Rather... Simple enough? Modern Big Four AU with implied HiccupxJack. Based on a horror movie so prepare for blood, language, threats and sexual references...
1. Awkward Welcome

**I recently watched Would You Rather, a pretty terrifying psychological horror which gave me an idea for this fic. Hiccup is invited to a dinner party and a game. If he wins, his life will change unimaginably. The host is offering money and anything that Hiccup needs if he makes it to the end of the game. But what game will they be playing? Hiccup will have to play to find out...**

 **This is a Big Four fic with implied HiccupxJack, RapunzelxFlynn and maybe some AsterxMerida? Not sure yet.**

 **This is based on a horror movie plot so be warned, there will be blood, threat, sexual acts, triggers, language, just about everything I should be worried about... Enjoy x**

"Our eighth and final guest." Gothel announced, presenting me to the rest of the people standing around the small room. Their heads all turned to me, some looking interested, others bored. Before I realised it, Gothel had floated out of the room again, closing the door behind her and I was left with these seven strangers.

I was expecting an awkward silence to follow, so I was quite surprised when two of the guests walked straight over and offered me a drink.

"Oh no thank you. I think I'll wait until dinner." I tried to be polite. After all, I'd be spending the next few hours eating dinner and playing a game with them.

"I'm Jack by the way." The boy who offered me a drink said by way of an introduction. He smiled down at me with piercing blue eyes. He was slightly taller than me and had snowy white hair, but he still looked to be about my age. He was wearing a full formal suit with a pale blue tie and I suddenly felt underdressed in my dark green collared shirt and black trousers. The girl stood by his side huffed and stretched out her hand to shake mine, a big grin crossing her face.

"Merida." She said, and right away, I heard the strong Scottish accent in her voice. She was dressed in a pretty blue dress with gold trims that reached her knees, but her most impressive attribute had to be that hair. There was so much of it. Bright red and curly, reaching her hips, even though she had half of it tied up in a knot at the back of her head. I smiled at them both and shook their hands.

"I'm Hiccup." I said, after a few seconds of silence in which I zoned out, staring incredulously at Merida's fantastic hair. "Uh, so are you both local too?" I asked, trying to break the ice a little more.

"Nah, they flew me in from Scotland." Merida explained. I could've guessed that… I thought. I turned to Jack.

"Burgess." He said simply. I knew that town. It was only a few states across from this one. "You got any idea what's gonna happen tonight?" He asked, more quietly.

I shrugged.

I could tell by the sudden flurry of orange in my peripheral vision that Merida had done the same.

I honestly had no idea what kind of game we'd be playing. I just knew that I needed to win if I wanted to pay for my dad's medical bills.

"What do you do?" Jack directed the question to both of us but going from the fact Merida had been there for hours, I guessed he'd already drained every topic of conversation out of her, so he looked at me for an answer.

"Uh, I don't really have a job at the moment. That's partly why I'm here." There was a strained silence, "Yeah, I'm not quite as glamorous as any of you guys."

"Glamorous?" Jack laughed, a little louder than I'd have liked. A few people stopped their conversations to listen. "My job's far from glamorous. I'm a doctor, or well, in-training at least. I'm sure Merida'd love to tell you _all about_ her job." He drawled sarcastically.

"Oi! I'll have ye know mah job sucks sometimes too." She turned to me, "I'm training for the Olympics." She said proudly.

"Wow, really?"

"Yup. Archery. I nearly got in last time but some codger from London took the GB spot." She glanced over to Jack, who was hiding a smirk. "And I'm gonna get in this time! Ah've got to!"

"Okay okay, whatever." Jack raised his hands. I could tell the two of them had already had this conversation and were simply reiterating it for me. I decided to change the subject quickly.

"So, is this everyone?" I asked.

Jack nodded.

"How long have-?"

"Ah've been 'ere for hours, if that's what y'er gonna ask." Merida tossed her hair back and took another sip from her glass. "Jack only rolled in a coupla' minutes ago."

"More like thirty…" He corrected her.

I glanced around the room, "What about everyone else?"

Jack matched his eyeline to mine and began to speak.

"Well, the girl over there with the spiky skirt, that's Astrid. I think she's a vet, which kind of vet, I have no idea though… Uh, that big guy with the tattoos, that's Aster. He's an artist, probably. Next one, she's uh Tooth? I think that was her name. She's a teacher from New York. Very chatty. You're not gonna want to start a conversation you don't intend to finish with that one. She didn't get the warning in time. That blonde bombshell. I think her name was Raz- no, Rapunza-?"

"Rapunzel. She's a model, obviously..." Merida butted in. "And the lad hitting on her is Flynn Rider. Know 'im?"

I stared at the man. Yes, I did know him. "Is he an actor or something?"

"Only the best rising star at the moment. No idea what 'e's doin' here though."

"And that's everyone." Jack rounded off, sounding somewhat miffed at Merida's obsessing over Flynn. "And now you're here so-"

Jack was interrupted by the opening of the doors I came in through. Every head swivelled towards it and I had to jump to the side to avoid receiving a faceful of Merida's mane in the process. A tall man in a fully black suit stepped in. This was Mr Black. He was the one who invited me in the first place, the one who said he could-

"Welcome." He threw his arms wide, grinning around at us all. "Welcome everyone. I'm so glad to see you all made it. Now, before we kick things off, I do have to make one small request."

I turned to glance at Jack, who was also peering to see my reaction at the same time.

"Due to the nature of the game you will all be participating in tonight, I must ask that you hand over all your possessions, within reason, of course, to avoid any cheating or advantages to any players. Mobile phones, keys et cetera. I hope you understand?"

The room went dead silent as everyone exchanged suspicious glances. The first to react was Astrid, who stood up quickly and tossed her bag into one of the trays being held out by the servants beside Mr Black.

"Thank you for your compliance, young lady."

One by one, we all followed suit, placing our belongings in the trays. It felt weird having completely empty pockets.

"Lovely. Now if you'd like to follow me. Don't worry about your drinks. They'll be cleared away by my staff."

Mr Black was English. His accent was incredible. Mesmerising. Everyone put their glasses down on various tables around the room and proceeded to follow Mr Black out of the 'waiting room'. Jack, Merida and I were at the end of the line as we paraded through several corridors before finally reaching a large frosted panelled double door. The doors were pulled open on our approach, presumably by some more servants of the house on the other side.

Beyond, a massive table that could easily seat sixteen people was laid out like a fancy restaurant. Wine glasses and napkin swans were dotted around and a large chandelier hung directly above the bright red table runner.

"Placecards have been provided. Please, take a seat." Mr Black sat at the head of the table by the door and the rest of us were left to wander around looking for our names. The table was set out so that four people would sit on each side as well as two places at both heads for Mr Black and somebody else… There was a place set up but it didn't seem like anyone else would be arriving to fill it. Maybe Gothel, the butler?

As I circled the table, I read some of the names that weren't mine.

 _E. Aster Bunnymund_

 _Merida Dunbroch_

 _Flynn Rider_

 _Astrid Hofferson_

 _Rapunzel Corona_

And right next to that one… _Hiccup Haddock III_

Just my luck I'm placed between the prettiest girl I've ever seen and…

 _Jack Frost_

Wow, what a fantastic name. So appropriate too, especially considering the white hair and bright blue eyes…

Next to Jack, the teacher sat. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed before, but I realised now that she had green green and blue streaks running through her short brown hair. What was her name again?

 _Toothiana-_ but her surname was hidden behind Jack's napkin swan and I didn't want to lean across him to see the rest of the name so I settled for only knowing the girl's first name, which was peculiar in itself anyway. Her seat was next to the head at which Mr Black sat and the two of them were exchanging pleasantries.

"Hello there," Rapunzel, the model (up close I could see how she got the job), pulled out the chair to my left and glanced at my name card before sitting. "Hiccup, looks like we're sitting together." Her smile was so contagious it made me smile just looking at it. "I hope you're good at games, because I'm not. We should team up, eh? It'll be loads of fun!"

Her optimism was astonishing. Her bright green eyes shone with enthusiasm and her cheeks flushed pink when I agreed to team up if need be. Another thing that quickly caught my attention was her hair.

What was it with these girls and their hair? Rapunzel's was a shimmering blonde and reached the floor. As she was sat down, it flowed across the wooden back of her chair into a graceful puddle of hair at her feet. She wore a purple dress that complimented the blonde unbelievably well.

I scanned the other side of the table. At Mr Black's end sat Aster. Really looking at him, I noticed how big of a man he was. Large navy blue tribal tattoos covered both of his beefy arms and his hair, also a very dark shade of blue-black was long and spiked at the ends. He looked like the kind of guy you wouldn't want to come face to face with in a dark alley. But when he suddenly turned his head and made eye contact with me, his face broke into possibly the warmest smile I'd ever seen. I returned the gesture and decided this man was just a big softie.

Next to him was Merida, and she needed no second introduction for me. She looked rather excited at being placed between Aster and Flynn. So far, Merida screamed tomboy to me.

Flynn was immaculate. He was an actor and starred in a lot of romance films. No surprise how he managed to land the roles, considering his generic handsome face and perfect floppy hair. He and Merida were talking. Or rather, Merida was talking. Flynn was half-listening, half trying to get a word in edgeways.

My eyes finally wandered across to the girl sitting across from Rapunzel. Astrid. She'd come across as a bit of a punk from the moment I saw the spike studded skirt and closer inspection only proved my opinion correct. She had dirty blonde hair in a thick braid on the one side of her head and a brown leather headband across her forehead. Her face expressed pure boredom with a hint of disgust, no doubt because Rapunzel was now attempting to make conversation by complimenting her on her earrings, of which there were at least six in each ear.

Definitely not a people person, is she… Better make a note not to be too friendly with that one.

"Okay, alright. Everyone, please turn your attention to me." Mr Black announced, hushing everyone's conversations immediately. "This is my son, Dagur." He gestured up the table to the once empty seat in between Rapunzel and Astrid, where a man was now sat,

"Hello, everyone." Dagur waved down the table. He was a large, muscled man with a tattoo covering one of his eyelids and eyebrow. A tuft of messy ginger hair stuck up from his pear shaped head. He didn't look like Mr Black's son at all.

The entire table gingerly waved or smiled back at Dagur. Nobody was sure whether to take him seriously or not.

"He will be joining us for dinner and for the game." Black continued, smiling down the table at each of us, but fixing his son with a meaningful stare, as if reminding him of something. Dagur rolled his eyes and slumped deeper into his chair.

"Speaking of dinner, tonight we will be having a wonderful meal prepared by our very own chefs, a meal of the best ribeye steak money can buy, fresh new potatoes and an assortment of the finest vegetables from our very own garden."

Several waiters suddenly filed into the room, bearing plates of the delicious looking food. A plate was placed in front of every guest, including myself. Then, shortly after, our wine glasses were filled with red wine from bottles without labels.

"Looks delicious, doesn't it?" Black said proudly, picking up his own wine glass and taking a long, tentative sip.

I peered across to Jack, who was taking up his knife and fork. Our eyes met briefly and I gave him a small smile, before beginning to eat. The steak was heavenly. And I usually didn't like steak. About three bites into my meal, someone else spoke up.

"Sorry mate, I uh, probably shoulda' told you earlier, but I'm a vegetarian."

I glanced around the table, trying to decipher the source of the voice. The strong Australian accent was coming from Aster.

"A vegetarian?" Black said, locking his fingers together and leaning forward on his elbows, "Well, this _is_ awkward. You see, we don't have anything else we can serve you."

"Oh nah, don't worry. It's my fault fer not letting ya know sooner." Aster apologised, waving his hand around, very nearly smacking Merida in the face. "I'll just pick around it and y'know, the potatoes and veggies look great." He began to eat the potatoes and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy. Mr Black could've at least had a backup menu in case this happened. Vegetarians aren't that uncommon nowadays. I considered becoming one for a while but could never really commit to it.

"How long have you been a vegetarian?" Tooth asked.

"As long as I can remember. Never 'ad any meat in my house an' I never 'ad any reason to try it so…"

"Well well. Now this is interesting…" Black grinned, adjusting his seat so he was looking right at Aster. "You, my dear man, may have just given me the perfect excuse to begin awarding some money.

Aster, I will give you one thousand dollars if you eat that entire steak."

 **Chapter 2 will be posted soon-ish. It's A-Level exam season atm so writing this is my procrastination from Psychology revision. Please review if you liked this chapter and tell em how I can improve. I love constructive criticism! Thanks everyone xx**


	2. Dedications Destroyed

**Okay, so here's chapter 2. Sorry it's taken a few days to get this done. I've been very unmotivated. But now it's up and it's startign to get good. This chapter is when it starts to get a bit weird... Pls enjoy and review if you like it.**

"Aster, I will give you one thousand dollars if you eat that entire steak."

Silence washed over the table like a wave, the only sound coming from Dagur, who was suppressing a chuckle. My mouth fell open. What the hell was Black doing?

"You're jokin', right?" Aster said after a while.

"Oh no, I don't joke when it's about money." Black's grin was growing, his teeth shining creepily in the chandelier light. "It's just a bit of meat. What's the problem?"

"I ain't about to toss twenty three years of dedication out the window jus' for a bit of money. Are ye mad?" Aster looked offended at the offer and glanced around at the rest of us before he continued to eat his potatoes.

"Aster, what if I offered you five thousand?"

Again, my loaded fork was assaulted by the gaping open of my mouth.

"That steak, for five thousand dollars." He paused, as Aster put down his knife and fork, glaring at his plate. "Gothel- ah."

Gothel delicately placed a stack of hundred dollar bills in front of the Australian.

Aster was looking at the money as if it were a snake rearing it's head. "Nah, don't be stupid."

"Ten," Black sneered and another stack was deposited on the table, "Thousand dollars… Are you really going to deny yourself that?"

"What are you doing?" Jack suddenly snapped. Black looked over, clearly unprepared for this outburst. "Stop humiliating him. He doesn't eat meat so don't try to buy him out."

"Oh Aster…" Black turned back to the man on his left, ignoring Jack's comment. "What will you do? Eat a little meat and claim ten thousand dollars now? That amount, mind you, will most definitely change by the end of the game tonight. Or listen to your opponent over there, trying to take that reward away from you and have victory for himself?"

"What-?"

"Hush, Jack." Black brought a slender white finger to his lips. "Aster is making his decision. What'll it be then?"

Aster's face was distraught. Not surprisingly. This was a major dilemma of morals for him. I couldn't know for sure what he'd say. I didn't know him well enough for that. But if he'd said he'd grown up in a meat-free house, that's some incredible dedication. Surely he wouldn't-

"Argh fuck it!" And Aster shovelled a forkful of steak into his mouth, chewing it with his eyes clamped shut, as if not looking at would convince him it wasn't meat.

Black laughed and clapped his hands, throwing himself back into his chair. "Wow. Now that is brilliant. An entire life of dedication to cause completely wiped away by a mere ten thousand dollars… How I pity you all."

"What on earth is happening?" Rapunzel whispered in my ear.

Without turning to look at her and attracting Black's attention, I replied. "I don't know, but this is weird. If he picks on you, don't accept his money, okay?"

"I'm not a vegetarian, it'll be fine."

Somehow I figured Black would be able to find something to notice about all of us. If this was how the night was going to go.

"Gothel, more wine if you would be so kind?" Black called, beckoning the woman to his side. She flicked her own wrist at the waiters surrounding the tables who stepped forward in turn and refilled our glasses. Most of the other guests had finished, or were at least close to finishing, their drinks. I still had two thirds of a glass left, to which my waiter looked disapprovingly at before filling up to the brim again. I was nineteen but alcohol had never really struck a bond with me.

"Flynn, you're not enjoying the refreshments?"

I looked up, as did everyone else, to Flynn, whose glass was still full of the red liquid from the beginning of the evening.

"Oh, it's not that, Mr Black. I don't drink, that's all."

"You _don't_ drink?" Black said, mockingly, "Or you _won't_ drink?"

"I don't, because I've worked so hard to turn my life around. You're not gonna be able to bribe me, so don't even try it, okay?"

"Oh my, is that a challenge?" Black was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. "How about we start at five thousand, similar to my good man, Aster over here." He leaned over and patted Aster's back as he chewed the steak. I could see the shimmer of tears in his eyes. Oh god…

"No." Flynn said firmly, obviously determined not to be beaten. "You have no idea how hard I've worked."

"Flynn, Aster is currently devouring an entire pile of meat and he is a dedicated vegetarian… And you won't drink a little glass of wine?"

Flynn didn't respond. A silent tear rolled down Asters cheek.

"How long's it been?" Black asked.

"I've been sober for six years, and my life's never been better. This is completely different to Aster. You don't get it."

"Oh no, Flynn. I do. I really do." Black cooed. "But," He leaned forward in his chair, leaning on the table, "I know I can find a price you won't refuse."

Jack went to speak up again, but was interrupted by Black.

"Fifty thousand dollars,

For just a little glass of wine…"

"I'm sorry to cut your game short, but I will not give in." Flynn persisted.

"Game?" Black looked confused, "Oh wait, you think- you think we've been playing all this time? Oh no, dear boy. We haven't even started the main event yet. After dessert. You're eager to get started, I see?"

"This isn't even a par' of the game?" Merida said what we were all thinking. "Then wha' is the game?"

"All in good time, my dear." Black silenced her with a wave of his hand and fixed his attention back on Flynn. "One hundred thousand dollars, Mr Rider."

"Shut up." Flynn growled.

"I'll just keep climbing until you say yes. I have more money than I know what to do with…" Black gloated, "Two hundred, if you'll drink that single glass of wine. It's a beautiful concoction, isn't it everyone? Flynn, you're really missing out here."

He raised his own glass to toast and reluctantly, the rest of us raised ours. Flynn was looking incredulously between us all, not sure what to do or think.

"Why are you doing this to me?" His voice was shaking slightly. I could tell this was a lot more stressful for him than the steak was for Aster. "What? Is this- is this funny for you? Is it all just a joke?"

"Flynn, my man, I don't understand why you're questioning this offer? I'm willing to give you two hundred thousand dollars if you drink a simple glass of wine. This- this shouldn't be a difficult decision. Drink the wine."

Flynn was completely speechless, and had pretty good grounds to be. A recovering alcoholic, turned internationally famous actor, was being offered a ridiculous sum of money to break his one honest commitment and destroy years of hard work. Just like that.

"Don't do it." Jack was making comments again. "You don't have to drink it if you don't want to."

"It's _so much_ money though…" Flynn said quietly under his breath, staring at the still full glass on his placemat.

"You're a celebrity. Why are you worrying about the money?" Astrid spoke for the first time.

Flynn's face quickly changed from thoughtful confusion to anger. His lips became a thin line and he clenched his fists on the table. He muttered something to himself and slammed his fist down on the wood.

Then he downed the entire glass in three gulps.

"There! You fucking satisfied?!" He practically yelled at Black, once he'd finished.

"My my, Flynn. That was _extraordinary_!" Mr Black actually stood up, applauding Flynn before placing the massive stack of money in front of the shaking actor. "I wasn't expecting you to finish it quite so quickly. I can see why you used to have problems." A pause. "Gothel, fill his glass up again. Don't leave the poor man parched."

Flynn looked up at our host with murder in his eyes.

This night had so far been torture. And I hadn't even received any of the onslaught. I turned to Rapunzel and gave her a tiny smile, attempting to look not as uncomfortable as I felt.

Jack, on my right, nudged my leg under the table and he was about to say something to me when Mr Black cleared his throat loudly, gaining all our attention.

"Humble guests, I would now like to ask you all if you are ready to begin tonight's main event. Our game..."

Nobody moved.

Nobody spoke.

I was sure nobody breathed.

"I am going to take your silence as an excited yes." Black continued. "Now, from this point onwards, I will have no problem with you calling me by my first name. Pitch. Please do, in fact. It'll make us seem more like friends than guests and host."

Pitch. What an odd name…

"Please Pitch, put us out of our misery! What is the game we'll be playing?" Pitch put on a high voice and mimicked what he assumed we were all thinking, which to be honest, was partly true, for me at least. "Well, it's a children's game. One that you all, no doubt have played before. Would You Rather? The concept is simple. In turn, I will ask you a question, giving you two choices that you could answer from. And uh, usually neither choice is very attractive. So, for example…" Pitch walked around the table and stopped right behind me. "Hiccup. Would you rather kiss Rapunzel or… Aster?"

"Uh, I guess I'd kiss Rapunzel." I said, laughing a little at the ridiculous question. "No offense, Aster."

"None taken mate."

"Perfect." Said Pitch "Now, our version is very similar to the original but with one minor difference. In our rendition, you _must_ follow through on your choice. So, in this case, Hiccup, you _must_ kiss Rapunzel."

Jack glanced sideways at me, quirking an eyebrow.

"Wait, I have to do it now?" I asked, flushing red at the thought.

"No no, Hiccup. That was just an example, but that is how the game will work. There are a few more rules. Failure to complete your chosen task will result in in elimination from the game. Failure to make you choice within the time limit will also result in elimination."

"Wha' happens if yer eliminated?" Merida asked.

"You're out of the game, and will no longer be able to participate in the challenges. Simple as that."

Seemed easy enough. In fact, a bit of a nostalgic throwback to sleepover party games might be nice, considering all the crap Hiccup had been dealing with recently.

"Is everyone in? I'll give you all one last chance to leave now, before we get started." Pitch gestured to the door.

Flynn jumped to his feet, almost tripping on his chair, clutching his stack of bills in his hand. He paused for a second, glancing between the door and the money in his hand, before apparently making up his mind and sitting back down again.

"A full house." Pitch grinned, as the doors behind him were shut and... bolted. "Marvelous.

Tooth, my dear. You're up first."

Pitch beckoned to some of the 'waiters' who immediately scurried out of the room and returned trundling a massive machine with wires and dials all over it. Two leather straps with metal discs on each side were hanging on thick cables from the machine. It was wheeled up past us all and parked behind Tooth.

"The hell is that?" Jack swivelled in his seat to face the monstrous machine.

"This, Jack, is a car battery wired up to some shock plates on headbands. Effectively, it's an incredibly powerful shock machine."

"I mean what the hell's it doing here for?"

"Tooth." Pitch completely ignored Jack's questions. "Please hold still for a moment while Gothel sets up our first dilemma."

Tooth was too frightened to protest as the leather headband was tightened around her scalp. Her multicoloured hair stuck out at unnatural angles from beneath it. Jack continued to protest as the same thing happened to Aster, sitting across from Tooth. They were both hooked up to the shock machine.

"Okay, Tooth. Would you rather shock yourself or Aster?" He handed her a remote control. "The blue button is for you. The red button is for Aster. You have fifteen seconds, go."

 **Thanks for reading my story so far. Chapter three will definitely be going up within the next couple of days because I'm desperate to carry on writing it. As you can probably tell, things are going to start getting a lot darker now that Pitch has full control. Anyways, please please please review because it helps me out so much and constructive criticism is literally my best friend so as much as you can provide me with would be amazing! Thank you again...**


	3. The Game Begins

**Alrighty, I was actually really excited to finish this chapter and get it posted (I'm sadistic, I can't help it) so here it is. Enjoy x**

"Okay, Tooth. Would you rather shock yourself or Aster?" He handed her a remote control. "The blue button is for you. The red button is for Aster. You have fifteen seconds to make your choice, go."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" Tooth blurted out.

"Yeah, what's bloody goin' on?" Aster joined in.

"Tooth, don't push it." Jack ordered and then stood up, pushing his chair away with such force that it fell over backwards with a loud clatter. "C'mon Tooth, let's get this off you-"

"I wouldn't if I were you, Frost." Gothel materialised behind Jack as he began to reach for the leather. "Sit back down."

"Why? You can't make me- oh."

Gothel was pointing a gun at Jack's head.

He slowly, ever so slowly, picked up the chair again, not taking his eyes off the gun, and sat down next to me.

"Tooth, you have three seconds, two, one. Make your choice now or face elimination."

Tooth didn't do anything.

"Are you refusing to make a choice?" Pitch snarled.

"I'm not going to electrocute anyone. Don't be so ridicu-"

A shot rang out and Tooth dropped out of her chair and crumpled to the floor. Dead.

I screamed, as did Rapunzel, Merida and Flynn. Aster looked completely shell-shocked and Jack immediately threw himself out of the chair again, lunging for Pitch. However, his attempt was quickly stifled by a bullet passing his left ear, missing him by mere centimetres. He sat down again, breathing heavily.

"Your fellow competitor has just been eliminated from the game. I hope you all now understand that her method is definitely _not_ the correct way to play." Pitch said, completely unbothered by the corpse at his feet. "Please," He directed his servants, "Clean up before we continue."

Tooth's body was taken away and the door was open for a few seconds. A few glorious seconds when a tiny shred of hope was there… That feeling was dashed however, when Pitch continued.

"Aster, now it's your turn." I hadn't noticed before, as I was too preoccupied by the open doors, but Tooth's headband had been transferred over to Merida and now Aster was holding the remote. "Press the red button to shock yourself. Press the blue button if you'd rather zap Merida. You have fifteen seconds. Go"

Aster stared around at everyone, looking for help and finding none. "How many volts is this thing?"

"Only one way to find out. Five seconds."

"Alright alright. Aw christ!" He hit the red button and immediately is whole body went rigid, sparks flying from the metal disks at his temples, his long hair standing on end, eyes wide and fearful. He didn't scream.

Merida did though. "You idiot! You shoulda' shocked me!"

"Oh how very noble of you." Pitch cooed. "Don't worry. You'll get your chance. It's your turn now anyway." Aster's headband was transferred to Flynn, who struggled violently, trying to prevent it from being put on him.

"No, get the fuck away from me!"

"Flynn. What have you seen in the last ten minutes that has led you to believe you don't have to put it on?" Pitch threatened. "Keep still!"

Eventually, the leather strap was tightly secured and the remote was planted into Merida's hand. I was looking at Aster. He was slumped forward on the table, his body twitching every few seconds but other than that, he seemed unharmed, visibly.

"Merida, you know the drill. Blue for you. Red for Flynn."

Without hesitation, Merida hit the blue button and suffered the same fate as Aster. Her hair flew up behind her as she jerked backwards into her chair. Her face was twisted in pain.

"Fuck you, Black." Jack growled at the man.

"Flynn? Your turn. Red for you. Blue for Astrid."

He fingered the remote for a few seconds, looked up, straight at me, for some reason, and pressed the red button.

"Aaaargh!" Flynn was the first to scream while being shocked. And his scream was horrifying. I was on the verge of tears by this point, but I was too scared too. Two emotions seemed like an impossible feat for my scrambled brain to handle just then.

Aster, Merida and Flynn were all a mess. They'd all chosen to hurt themselves over the person next to them.

But now it was Astrid's turn.

Rapunzel remained surprisingly calm as the apparatus was planted on her head and she fixed Astrid with a trusting look as Pitch handed her the remote.

"Blue for you. Red for- Oh my!"

Astrid had pressed the red button before the countdown had even started. Rapunzel jerked and twitched, falling sideways into my shoulder. I caught her as the shocks died down and she stayed still panting and gripping my arm with impossible strength.

"Astrid, that was impressive. Well done. _She_ knows how to play…"

Everyone glared daggers at her.

"We're competing, right?" She snapped. "I'm not gonna be nice to y'all if the aim is to eliminate everyone."

The headband was taken off Astrid and I gulped, knowing it was my turn to be helpless. I shrunk in on myself as the leather straps were tightened just above my ears. The metal discs were cold, but I could still feel the slight heat from previous shocks radiating through them

"Don't worry Hic," Rapunzel gasped, between sharp intakes of breath. "I'm not going to shock you."

"What? No! You have to. You can't take two in a row!" I stammered. She was already looking terrible after one shock. I didn't even want to imagine what damage two would do to her.

"Uh Hiccup. No influencing other players please." said Pitch. "Rapunzel sweetheart, it's your turn now. Press red to electrocute yourself for the second time, or blue to shock Hiccup."

She stared at her own quivering hands, finger poised over the blue button. I closed my eyes, waiting for the shock. But it never came.

"Rapunzel, no!" I yelled as she collapsed onto the floor, convulsing violently. "No no no!" I fell to my knees next to her and picked up her limp body once the shocks had stopped. She was still breathing, thank god. But her eyes were closed and she was shuddering horribly in my arms.

"Hiccup, get back to your seat. If Rapunzel is no longer able to play, she will be eliminated. It is your turn now." All I could do was watch as Rapunzel's head band was ripped off and fastened to Jack. "Do I really need to explain this all to you again?"

I got it. Blue for myself. Red for Jack.

Jack was trying to catch my eye. "Hit red. I'm fine with it. Don't shock yourself for me."

Yeah. Like hell I was going to electrocute the person on my left when the person on my right just took two shocks for me.

I braced myself and pressed down hard on blue.

"No Hiccup!"

A million tiny knives sliced the tips off of every nerve ending in my body. It felt like fire was being poured down my throat and into my eyes. I couldn't breathe, couldn't move, couldn't even tell if I was still alive or not. My vision faded to white and the fire became snuggly warmth. For a fraction of a second, it was blissful. And all too quickly, it was over.

The dark mahogany furnishings came back and Jack's worried face filled up my entire field of view as he shook me awake.

"Hiccup, can you hear me?" He was yelling.

"Ow," I moaned, as Jack helped me to sit up again. I flattened my head against the table once the headband was removed.

"Is he back with us?" There was Pitch. "Goodness, you and electricity certainly don't mix. We thought we'd lost you for a moment there, Hiccup." He made it sound like he'd actually miss me. The bastard.

"And now Jack, it's finally your turn. Red for yourself. Blue for Aster, for the second time."

"Mate, I'm fine now. Do me if you have to" Aster said.

Jack smiled a little. He looked sideways at me, still slumped on the table, and pressed red. White sparks were really visible this time. In fact, Jack seemed to be having the worst reaction I'd seen so far. He was completely rigid, limbs stuck at straight angles, teeth clenched tight and eyes slowly rolling back into his head.

"Jack!" Merida cried out as his snowy white head smacked forward onto the table. I forced my own aching body to move and lifted my head. I rolled Jack over and sat him back up in the chair, trying my best to be gentle with his shaking body. He was okay. His eyes were open and he was staring confusedly around the room.

"Jack?" I snapped my fingers in front of his face, "Hey, you alright? Jack!"

"Yeah yeah 'm'alright… I just-" He cut himself off as he suddenly leaned to the left and vomited all over the floor. I rubbed his back, not really knowing what else to do.

"Oh dear. Lucky we came prepared for mess, eh Gothel?" Pitch chuckled. "Speaking of mess, how about you and your staff get the room ready for round two? Cover the walls, floor and anything expensive with plastic sheeting. Dagur and I will be back soon." And with that, Pitch and Dagur left the room.

I suddenly remembered Rapunzel. She had managed to wake up and heave herself back onto the chair, but she was in a state almost as bad as Jack. She had her head in her arms on the table and was sobbing silently into them.

The servants came back in shortly carrying long sheets of plastic, which they used to coat the floor, walls and anything expensive looking, just like Pitch had instructed.

Jack coughed and heaved but his stomach was now empty. My own head was still spinning from the shock and the smell of Jack's upchucked steak really wasn't helping.

"This is insane." I whispered to no one in particular. "He's going to kill us."

"Jack, you alright?" Aster barked as Jack straightened up in his chair again. He nodded in response, but didn't speak.

"What about the rest o' you?"

I looked to Rapunzel, who raised a quivering thumb in the air as a signal she was 'okay'. She clearly wasn't.

"What the hell are we supposed to do now?" Flynn darted his eyes to each of us, in turn. "That was only round one, for christ sake. What's that bastard got planned next?"

"We need to stay calm, for a start." Aster ordered, "Next time we get the chance, we'll jump 'em. Make a run for it. But for now, I reckon we should just play by his rules and not get killed."

As if on cue, Pitch and Dagur suddenly re-entered and took their seats again.

"Hello again everyone. Sorry for the short delay, but now let's begin round two." He glanced around. "Jack, you still there?" Jack was staring into space, his arms dangling by his sides. "Hmm, Gothel. Make a note not to turn up the voltage quite that high in future."

Pitch turned up the voltage for Jack's shock? So that's why he'd reacted so much worse than the rest of us. I found his hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze, hoping to trigger some kind of answer. He squeezed my hand back.

Thank god.

"Is our Rapunzel doing alright over there?" Pitch asked Dagur, who yanked the girl up by her hair to check if she was awake. Reflexively, I smacked his hand away from her as she cried out in pain. Dagur gave me a deadly cold stare.

"Hiccup, since you're so excitable at the moment, let's start with you." Pitch sneered, standing up and walking to my seat. "Would you rather..." A silver dagger was placed on the table in front of me, "Stab Rapunzel in the thigh with this dagger."

My throat seized up.

"Or…" Another smaller, but much sharper blade was deposited next to it, "Forcefully remove Jack's index finger?"

 **:O Hope you liked this chapter... I definitely enjoyed writing it. Hehe hehe hmm... Anyways, as always please please please review if you're enjoying this because a review on a story really makes my day and lets me know that people are reading. Constructive criticism is my best friend so please load me up! Chapter 4 will most likely be going up within the next three or four days since I'm gonna be hella busy over the weekend. Okay, bye (for now) xx**


	4. Blades

**Sorry for the long wait but here we go. Chapter 4. And thank you for the follows and favourites. And especially the reviews! I love reviews! They really help. Enjoy x**

"Hiccup, since you're so excitable at the moment, let's start with you." Pitch sneered, standing up and walking to my seat. "Would you rather..." A silver dagger was placed on the table in front of me, "Stab Rapunzel in the thigh with this dagger."

My throat seized up.

"Or…" Another smaller, but much sharper blade was deposited next to it, "Forcefully remove Jack's index finger?"

"What-?!" I gained control of my voice again as Jack's eyes shot up to mine. "What kind of a choice is that? I won't do either!"

Cool metal was suddenly pressed against my neck. Pitch tutted.

"Hiccup. Don't you remember what happened to your late opponent Toothiana?" I gulped back a sob that was building, at the memory of seeing her on the floor like that. "We'll have to waste another bullet on a pointless elimination if you don't _choose_! You have thirty seconds to decide, starting now."

Well, what the fuck am I supposed to do now?

"Hiccup, it's fine. Stab me. It'll only hurt for a second." Rapunzel was pleading into my right ear. Jack was silent. Which was even worse…

"Tick tock Haddock." Pitch sang. "Make your mind up quickly or else…"

The gun at my neck made a clicking noise and I felt tears begin to seep from between my eyelids. No. Don't cry Hiccup. God, this is so stupid!

"Choose." Pitch ordered.

I didn't say anything.

"Choose!" Pitch yelled the command this time, causing me to flinch and stare at him. His golden eyes were glowing malevolently. The sadistic fuck.

With a trembling hand, I picked up the larger dagger and slowly turned to face Rapunzel. She looked scared but also slightly relieved when I caught her eye.

"I'm sorry." I started, "I can't cut off Jack's finger. I can't-"

"Hey, it's okay. It's the right choice." She smiled but then paused, squinting slightly. "Just uh- make it quick please?"

"You've decided to stab Rapunzel in the thigh with the dagger. Interesting choice Hiccup. You'd stab a woman who has just received not one, but two electric shocks over removing a finger from the man on your left?" His grin widened incredibly. "When you're ready, Hiccup." He prompted.

Rapunzel shifted in her seat, pulling the skirt of her dress up a little to expose her left thigh. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. At least don't go straight for the middle of her leg, or I'd end up hitting bone? Ugh this is horrible.

"Dude, there's a major artery in there." Jack hissed in my ear. "Stick the knife in and straight out again, okay? No hanging around. And then grab something to put pressure on immediately. A tourniquet'd be great, but-"

"Jack, please shut up." Pitch snapped.

I took a deep breath and let my eyes meet with Rapunzel's for a brief moment before plunging the blade into her leg. I was surprised by how easy it was to pierce the skin and I pulled it out quickly. It took a second for the blood to begin flowing but when it did, it gushed. It also took a few seconds for Rapunzel to feel the pain. She didn't scream, merely hissed slightly and clenched her eyes shut. Thick dark red was oozing steadily from the cut, running off her leg and onto the carpet.

"Oh no, I think I hit that artery." I panicked, grabbing a napkin and pressing down hard on the cut. "Jack, what happened? What do I do?"

Jack was suddenly out of his chair and knelt at her side, checking the cut over. "No Hic, it's good. You didn't get the artery. The blood would be spurting out if you'd hit that. Rapunzel, just keep pressure on that and it'll stop on it's own eventually."

"All okay over there? Pitch called. "Well, that was quite a boring turn, wasn't it? Let's spice things up a notch with this next one. Aster. Would you rather-"

"Wait, we're not going in order this time?" Jack questioned, confused as to why Pitch had missed him out.

"No, Frost. I skipped your turn for a good reason. Just be patient. Aster, would you rather forcefully remove Jack's index finger?

Or Hiccup's?"

"What the fuck?!" Jack shouted. "What kind of choice is that? That's- How-? You fucking psycho!"

"Jack. I would sit down if I were you, and stop rebelling." Pitch snarled. "I gave you every opportunity to leave before the game. But no, you wanted oh-so-desperately to play, so you will play. However, right now, it is _not your turn_ so be quiet."

Every eye at the table turned to me and Jack, then to Aster.

"Why are you makin' me choose between those?" He stammered. "I- I can't cut off their bloody fingers. That's disgustin'!"

"Aster, your thirty seconds to decide has already begun. I suggest you choose quickly." Pitch almost sang, his voice rising at the end of his sentence. "One of these fine boys is going to have to lose a finger. Which one's it going to be? Jack or Hiccup?"

Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. This is torture. My fate is in his hands. I didn't want Jack to lose a finger. After all, that's why I stabbed Rapunzel… To avoid the other option, but now Pitch was making that choice the only option, just making Aster decide _who_ to inflict it upon. I tried so hard not to meet his eyes, but eventually I did and he was staring at me.

 _Shit._

"Have you made your decision yet, Aster?"

"Yeah alright." He mumbled in response, "Hiccup."

"What?!" Jack was out of his seat again in a second, "Why'd you choose Hiccup? Do me. I don't care!"

"Jack, stop." I put my hand on his arm. He was being so brave. Every chance he'd had, he'd offered to sacrifice himself for someone else. This time, it was my turn.

"Aster, you have sixty seconds to complete the task." Pitch was on the verge of laughter as he led Aster around the table to my seat. "Hiccup, could you spread out your hand on the table please?"

I did. But not before showing Pitch my favourite finger. At least it wasn't that one being removed. Maybe my gesture wasn't the best idea though because the next thing I knew, a gun was pressed to my head and two of the waiters were holding my right arm to the table, gripping so tightly it started to go numb.

"Oh jeez no, I- I can't…" Aster was shaking.

"You have to." Pitch drawled. "Your sixty seconds began twenty seconds ago, Aster. Better get started…"

I drew in a breath and shut my eyes. I made sure to keep my arm muscles relaxed because I knew from experience that tensing up before an injection just made it hurt even more. But then, injections and finger amputations aren't exactly the same thing, are they?

"Hiccup mate, I'm sorry." Aster had admitted defeat, lining up the knife along my left index finger and preparing himself. "Just- d-don't watch."

I already had my eyes clamped so tightly shut I thought they'd split so that wasn't an issue. I kept them closed and tried to steady out my breathing. This part was extremely difficult. The feeling of the blade on skin made me panic and I began hyperventilating.

"Hiccup, calm down. It's only gonna hurt a lot more if you work yourself up over it." Pitch drawled, sounding as if he'd definitely prefer it to hurt me a lot more.

"Okay I'll uh- countdown from three, and then… oh fuck." Aster's voice quivered on every word, and I nodded vigorously, urging him to just get on with it and stop stalling.

"Three."

I felt the knife begin to rock, cutting my first layer of skin.

"Two."

I yelled out as the blade sliced deeper and blood was drawn. I felt it trickle down my hand and pool across the table.

"One."

A grinding noise, then a crack and my entire hand erupted into fiery pain. I screamed. Loudly, which shocked me as much as everyone else. I usually had a pretty high pain tolerance. But this…

"Very good, Aster." Pitch was clapping. I could only just hear it over my own heartbeat throbbing in my ears. "Professional accuracy. Are you sure you're not a butcher?"

Aster snarled viciously at him. I could feel Jack trying not to explode with rage next to me.

"Oh and well done, Hiccup. I do hope you're not left-handed though." He laughed cruelly and Dagur joined in. "Now," He continued, "Where were we? Ah, Merida. You turn."

I still hadn't opened my eyes, terrified of what I would find on the end of my hand, which was still sizzling in a burning pain. Was it supposed to feel so hot? Pitch was talking to Merida but the words didn't register in my mind. My head was spinning from the bloody smell. Shit. How much blood had I lost?

Jack nudged my arm, "Hic, are you alright?"

"No." I stated the obvious.

"Let me look at you hand."

Hesitating for a second, I opened my eyes. And nearly vomited onto the floor. The finger was completely gone. It sat, dead, on the mahogany beside my wine glass in a large pool of red.

"Oh," I didn't know what to say. My finger wasn't attached anymore. It felt so surreal, almost funny, to see it sitting there like it was never mine.

And then I glanced to my hand.

It was a mess, but at the same time, not a surprising sight in the slightest. Where the finger was, an empty space. A tiny flash of greyish white bone poking from the end. I tried to move my finger, and the white dot trembled in the cocoon of flesh it was encased in.

Ugh.

"Hang on Hic, hold still for a sec." Jack had grabbed his napkin and was unfolding it. Then he carefully wrapped it around my hand, covering the wound pretty well. The pressure was excruciating.

"Excuse me?" Pitch shouted suddenly, making us all jump. "Care to share your little private conversation with the rest of us, Jack?"

"For fuck's sake man, he's bleeding! I'm just patching him up. Don't let us interrupt your torture session, please. Do carry on, you sick fuck!" Jack yelled. I kicked him under the table. I tried to tell him with my eyes to stop. The only reason Pitch was picking on him was because of his loudmouth attitude in the first round.

"May I continue the game? It's _not your turn_." Pitch growled.

Jack said nothing, slumping back into his seat.

"Thank you. Now Merida, I'll repeat the question, as it's obvious Jack and Hiccup were too busy to listen the first time… Would you rather remove Jack's finger-?"

"There's a fucking surprise…" Jack sighed.

"Or stab Flynn in the stomach?"

 **Okey dokes... there we go! Pitch really doesn't like Jack at all. Next xhapter should be up in the next few days xx**

 **Please review if you liked it or if you have any suggestions for future choices...?**


	5. No I in Team

**Right guys, here ya go. Chapter 5... This chapter was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you enjoy x As always, pls review if you're enjoying this story because it helps!**

 **Shoutout to Zephirad for reviewing not once, but twice! Thank you sooo much, and I think you'll be satisfied with my decision in this chapter.**

 **Also I'm sorry if any of the characters are seriously OOC (especially Astrid in this chap). It just makes it more fun to write...**

"Thank you. Now Merida, I'll repeat the question, as it's obvious Jack and Hiccup were too busy to listen the first time… Would you rather remove Jack's finger-?"

"There's a fucking surprise…" Jack sighed.

"Or stab Flynn in the stomach?"

"You wha'?" Merida cried out, her eyes darting between the two men, looking for help. When none came, she looked to me.

"Does it have to be in the stomach?" I asked Pitch. I knew this was an insensitive question, but perhaps by altering the choices, Merida could get off easy. A stab to the stomach could kill Flynn, slowly. Losing a finger, as I'd learned, wasn't life threatening.

But it hurt like hell…

"Yes Hiccup. The general area of the abdomen at least." Pitch replied and Flynn made a strange noise in his throat, like a scared whimper. It was a sound that didn't suit him. He was still drunk. I couldn't even begin to imagine how terrified he must be feeling.

"Hic, what'd you reckon?" Merida directed her question at me. "Did losing yer finger hurt that bad? I really don't wanna stab anyone."

Why was everyone always calling me out? I can't make a judgement on how much losing a finger hurts… I did have a higher pain tolerance than the average person so I was in no place to compare. I was about to answer when Jack interrupted.

"Don't you guys see where this is going? There's seven of us. Hic and Aster have already had their turns, so there's gonna be five more rounds, right? Cutting off my fucking finger is gonna be an option every time. Just all of you use your go's on me." He paused for a second. "In fact, why don't you just cut off my whole fucking hand and finish the rounds now?" He yelled at Pitch. "That's five fingers and a palm thrown in there for free, what'd you think, bastard?!"

He had completely lost it. Pitch was speechless.

However, he quickly gained his composure and a shark grin spread across his face. "Now Jack, that is an intriguing idea. Intriguing indeed. But where would the fun be in finishing the round now? After all, the fun in this game is all in the decision making. What kind of game would it be if one player could take away all the other players turns just like that?"

"How about one that won't kill us all?" Aster snarled.

"Ah, That's a good point." Pitch said. "But then where's the fun for me?"

The table was silent. In fact, the table had been silent after almost everything Pitch had said this night. And then Jack spoke.

"So? You gonna take me up on my deal or what?"

Pitch was clearly biting back an urge to do something terrible to Jack, but he managed to hide his anger with an expression which worried me.

"Do you know what? I think I will. I'll rephrase my question, Merida. Would you rather stab Flynn in the stomach or remove Jack's entire hand?"

"-and finish the round?" Merida said, tilting her head.

"No. The round will continue after your choice." Pitch's voice was sickening. I wanted to punch him in his sadistic face.

"You fucking prick!" Jack howled, rising from his seat and picking up a fork, ready to lash out at Pitch.

"Jack, I bet you used to love musical chairs as a child…" Pitch said silkily, "You can't seem to sit still tonight, can you?"

A gun was pushed to his neck and reluctantly, he returned to his seat, grumbling.

"That's really unfair!" Merida moaned. "Why'd you change the rules like that?"

"You have thirty seconds to make your decision, Merida. Jack's hand or Flynn's stomach?"

"Jack-" Merida was crumbling. The pressure of the two boys fate being in her hands was too much. "Wha' do I do?"

Nobody responded. What was worse? A knife to the stomach or an amputated hand? I ran the scenarios through my head. In a clinical environment with the right equipment, I guessed losing a hand would be the better choice. There were loads of people with missing limbs out there in the world. As long as the wound was cleaned up properly or at least protected from infection… But none of that was a possibility here.

And a knife to the stomach? Well, Pitch had said it had to be in the abdominal area at least, so as long as Merida aimed away from any vital organs, perhaps Flynn would make it through an injury like that okay…

Was Merida thinking into all these factors in as much detail as I was? God, I hoped so.

"Flynn, I- I'm really sorry, but ah can't-"

"No it's cool. Go for it." Flynn shot back, "I've had worse."

"Wait, what?" Rapunzel spoke for the first time in ages. "What do you mean, you've had worse?"

Flynn didn't answer for a while, apparently hoping she'd drop it if he didn't respond. Eventually though, he explained. "I had a less than pleasant childhood, you could say. I'm adopted, but I know who my real parents are. They know who I am too, but I never want to see their vile faces again. They put me through so much shit as a kid. I guess I got my drinking habits from them, the fuckers. Merida, just do it already before I fucking stab myself…"

Flynn had fat tears rolling down his face and I couldn't stop myself from reaching across the table to hold his hand. It was weird, sure, but the situation needed it and nobody protested, especially Flynn, who squeezed my hand tightly back as a sob erupted from him, causing his whole body to shake. This guy had had a tough life. The famous actor whose childhood nobody would ever question… He was a celebrity and that automatically meant his life was freaking perfect. No. That's not how it works.

"Flynn. I understand. I'm sorry." I said.

"Merida, have you made your choice?" Pitch spat, completely oblivious, or ignorant, to Flynn's crisis.

Without warning, Flynn's grip on my hand tightened so hard I winced and his face screwed up in agony. Merida had done the deed quickly. Flynn hadn't been ready and as Merida withdrew the knife from his side, he fell back against the chair and then onto the floor, clutching the wound and groaning.

I jumped to my feet and ran around the table to help him. Jack and Rapunzel followed but before we could get past Dagur, he had a gun pointed to my head.

"Sit the fuck down now." He commanded.

Flynn was still writhing on the floor. Merida and Aster were prevented from helping by two more of the henchmen with guns. Quietly, we sat back down. I never took my eyes off Flynn, whose movements were slowing, his breathing becoming shallower. We could do nothing but watch for a good three minutes until Flynn's form stopped moving altogether and the pool of blood beneath him spread out, licking the chair legs and staining the mahogany red.

"Gothel." Pitch snapped his fingers and the butler bent down, placing two fingers on Flynn's neck. A pause.

"Dead, sir."

At these words, Merida screamed, gripping her orange haired head in her hands and rocking back and forth on the chair. "No no no! I didn't mean to-! I just-! Oh my god-!"

"Our second elimination of the night is Flynn Rider. Congratulations to Merida for lessening the playing field. Things were beginning to get a little samey, so thanks for doing that for us." Pitch sounded like Christmas had come early as two men carried Flynn's body away, to join Tooth's, no doubt. "Now, it should have been Flynn's turn next but since he's no longer able to play, we'll move on to the next player. Astrid. Would you rather remove Jack's hand?"

Jack gritted his teeth loudly.

"Or…" Pitch grinned, holding the blade that killed Flynn out to her, "Stab any player of your choosing?"

At these words, Astrid grabbed the knife and got to her feet. She looked to all of us. "In case you all haven't figured it out yet. This game isn't about helping each other. It's about eliminating the rest of you and getting the money." She stared at Rapunzel for a sickening moment before continuing, "I'm not a team player, you might've noticed, but I know how to break up a group. Pick off the weaker ones first."

Her eyes instantly locked onto me.

She strode around the table and came to a halt right behind my chair, the knife still in her hand. "Can I stab him anywhere?" She asked Pitch casually. I stared at her incredulously. What the actual fuck-?

Pitch was yet again, lost for words, "Oh well uh- That's a new one. I suppose, but below the shoulders please-"

The knife was in and out before my brain could even process she'd moved. The blade had torn through my side and between my ribs. I screamed and doubled over. Jack caught me before I collapsed from the chair. His hands were immediately pressing against the cut, firmly, trying to stop the blood flow. I was finding it hard to breathe. Had she pierced my lung?

"Hic? Hiccup! Can you hear me?" Jack was shouting. I only realised now that he'd been calling me 'Hic' for most of the evening, a nickname I'd never heard from anyone besides my dad. I wondered why I hadn't called him out on it at all. I liked it though. "Hiccup!"

"Yeah, ow-" The pain was finally beginning to surface. It felt a lot like the fiery sensation still present in my hand but a lot worse. Oh god, this was so much worse.

"Rapunzel!" Pitch called. I could barely hear him over Jack's fussing. "Your turn."

"Can't you give us a minute here?!" She yelled back at him, sounding uncharacteristically frantic. I only then notice that her hands were also pressed onto the wound in my side. I tried to sit up, but failed epically and ended up falling back into Jack's arms.

"Don't move for a minute, Hic." He ordered. "It's gonna hurt like hell for a while."

Yeah, no shit.

"Rapunzel, let's continue the game while the night is still young please." Pitch said. "Would you rather remove Jack's hand or stab Astrid?"

That devious bastard. He was doing this on purpose. Trying to get us all to show our dark sides and turn on each other. But Rapunzel wouldn't fall for that, surely…

I lifted my head from Jack's lap and immediately had to readjust my eyes as I watched Rapunzel take up the knife and march right over to Astrid.

"This is for Hiccup, you bitch." She snarled, and rammed the blade hard into Astrid's leg. She didn't scream, but upon impact, snapped her elbow up and cracked it against Rapunzel's jaw, sending her flying backwards into one of the waiters.

"Oh ho ho, ladies ladies, please calm down…" Dagur chuckled, reaching down to help Rapunzel to her feet. She refused his hand and returned to the table herself, looking utterly pissed.

"Dagur." Pitch shot his son a warning look.

"Hiccup, you okay?" Jack asked again.

"I'm- I think I'm good." I lied, letting Jack sit me back up in my chair. The pain was slowly ebbing away although it didn't leave entirely. Pitch watched curiously as I shifted my weight in the chair, eventually finding my most comfortable position to be leaning forward on the table (which was still covered in my blood).

"Round two over… Fantastic job everyone. Now, we'll take another short break before round three. Please have ten minutes to compose yourselves while I prepare." And Pitch left the room, taking Dagur rather forcefully with him.

"Hiccup mate, you alright?" Aster asked. I nodded weakly. "Just hang in there okay? I've got an idea."

Aster's 'idea' was simple. Wait for Pitch and Dagur to come back in and before they had a chance to close and lock the doors again, jump them and run. I could find several flaws with this not so detailed plan but everyone seemed eager to try it so I didn't argue.

We waited.

Eventually, the doors slid open and Pitch floated in. Right as Dagur appeared in the doorway, Aster yelled, "Now!"

To say that all hell broke loose at that point would be a major understatement. Five chairs suddenly flew back and crashed against the walls as all of us, except Astrid, jumped to our feet and made a mad dash for the open door. Gunshots rang out from every angle and I found myself ducking onto the floor to avoid the lattice of flying bullets above my head. Jack thumped down next to me and scrambled to hide under the table.

"Hic, the door!" He yelled over the noise and I legged it. Arms raised above my head, I ran straight out of the open door and down the corridor at full speed, not looking back for a second.

I didn't stop running until I was back in the room where we'd handed over our possessions. I looked around wildly for a place to hide, an exit, anything that could aid me in my escape from this hell…

And my eyes fell upon the trays that were still laden with our stuff. I rushed over to them and scanned around for my phone. There it was. I grabbed it and switched on the screen. A missed call from Dad and two texts from him too. But I didn't have time to check them. Immediately, I dialled 911, but before I could press call, a shout from right outside the door snapped me back to the current situation.

I needed to get somewhere safe and hide first. If a 'safe' place even existed in this madhouse…

"Oh Hiccup? Come out, come out wherever you are." I heard Dagur singing from just behind the door before it was wrenched open. But I was already hidden behind a big squashy armchair. He wouldn't be able to see me unless he was right on top of me. I tried to keep my breathing even as I heard him pace around the room, still taunting me, calling my name.

His footsteps stopped by the trays on the table and I knew he'd seen my phone was missing. I clamped my hand over my mouth this time to stop myself from hyperventilating and giving away my position.

Everything was quiet. Way too quiet. I couldn't hear Dagur at all. Had he left? I didn't dare to look for a few moments, but eventually curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked around the arm of the chair.

Dagur's grinning face was an inch from mine and he grabbed my throat, pinning me to the wall in a flash.

"Found you."

 **Gosh darnit Dagur! Dagur is one of my favourite characters to write about and next chapter is going to be very interesting, I'll tell you that much... Pls review and again, suggest future methods of torture for our heroes. Hehehe sorry x Bye xx**


	6. The Day Before

**Heyyyyy guys. I'm dreadfully sorry for the long wait but I've been experiencing a bit of writers block... I do have chapter 6 ready to go and you'll find out what Dagur's up to then, but first, I figured you'd like to know the story behind** ** _why_** **Hiccup and the gang are trapped in this mad game... So here we are with an awkwardly placed flashback scene.**

 **Shotouts**

 **Zephirad** **\- You're very welcome! And wow, thanks so much... I'm trying to keep all the characters as similar to their originals as possible and that means Jack is a cocky blabbermouth unfortunately... Dagur's gonna be a very important antagonist as the story progresses so keep an eye on him... Will update soon x**

 **girlmixi** **\- Thanks, I will try to update more often now. I've only got one more day of college I have to attend and then I'm off for study leave for 5 weeks... YES! (I ain't gonna be studying tbh)**

 **And super shoutouts to everyone who even takes the time to stop and take a gander at my stuff. Thanks a lot! Enjoy xx**

The Day Before

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BE-

"Urgh, shut up…" I moaned as I snoozed the alarm on my phone and rolled over to face the wall. Tuesday. I always thought Tuesdays were even worse than Mondays because you're already tired from the Monday and the teachers at school decided they didn't have to be lenient anymore because Monday's over and we should be 'back in the swing of things' by now…

Wait, Tuesday?

"Shit!" I shot out of my duvet fort and checked the time. 8:39am. Oh god, I had less than thirty minutes to get halfway across town. I guessed that wasn't the first time I'd hit snooze. Weird how your memory seems to reset every time your head hits the pillow…

"Shit shit shit!" I cursed as I began rushing around my attic room, trying to simultaneously get dressed and brush my scruffy hair, which is a chore in itself anyway even when I'm not in a mad rush.

I had a job interview to get to by 9am. At this rate, I'd be losing punctuality points, especially if Dad had already taken the car to get to work.

"Dad?!" I yelled.

"What?" I heard his reply from downstairs. Thank god, he's still here. If I break the speed limit on every road to the place, I'd make it there only a few minutes late… I continued frantically getting ready, grabbing my phone, keys and wallet before flinging open the door.

I nearly fell over backwards when my Dad's massive frame appeared in the doorway, arms crossed.

"Hiccup, what's wrong? Why were you shouting?"

"I'm late." I panted. "I'm gonna borrow the car, okay?" And before he had time to respond, and inevitably forbid me from using the car (because 'I shouldn't have to rely on having one, just because I was irresponsibly late', as always), I bolted down the stairs and out the front door.

Dad was stepping out onto the front porch as I pulled away, much more loudly and faster than I meant to. I'd call him later to apologise for my rude exit.

8:47am. Oh jeez, step on it Hiccup!

I stayed in fourth gear for about ninety percent of the journey, never going under forty miles per hour. Jeez, in hindsight, it was lucky there weren't any police about or I would've been screwed. I arrived at the building at 8:54am and quickly checked the rearview mirror to tidy myself up before going in.

Hair stuck at impossible perpendicular angles? Check. Under-eye circles the colour of tar? Check. Wow, every possible thing that could be wrong with my face was happening… I opened the glove box of the car and pulled out my glasses case. Slipping on the black, squre rimmed glasses, I attempted to smile, making the ideal 'I'm confident and relaxed' face.

Nope, that was definitely not a look I could pull off…

8:57am. Time to get in there! I left my wallet in the glove box and turned my phone to silent.

'Stabbington Publishing House' shone in big red letters above the doorway to the immaculately intimidating building and I instantly wished I'd dressed smarter as I saw people milling about in suits and carrying briefcases. I was only going for an assistant editorial job, which I assumed wouldn't require too much formality. Apparently, I was wrong.

I approached the front desk cautiously, not sure whether I was supposed to wait to be called or introduce myself. Confidence, Hiccup.

"Hiccup Haddock, I'm here for an interview." I said, trying to sound not-completely-terrified and failing with an epic voice crack.

The woman behind the desk smiled kindly and told me to take a seat in the fourteenth floor lobby and wait. So I did.

I kept checking my watch and fidgeting the whole time I sat there. Whoever was supposed to be interviewing me was late. Maybe that would draw attention from the fact I was late?

I began rehearsing questions in my head. I'd googled potential interview questions I might be asked and had prepared answers for as many as I could find.

 _What experiences in publishing and media do you have?_ I was a member of the school newspaper team.

 _Why do you want to work for this company?_ Because I've heard a lot about how prestigious and successful this company is and I'd love to become a member and contribute in the process of publishing.

 _Where do you see yourself in ten years?_ Either in a higher position at this company and making an impact on the system or perhaps even running my own publishing businesses. My dream is to become an author, but ten years might be cutting it slightly close.

Throw in a few jokes, but not too many. Call the interviewer sir or madam, unless they tell you otherwise. Don't be cocky. All of this was the advice I'd been given, and I intended to follow through with it.

"Mr Haddock?" A tall, thin man with long ginger sideburns appeared in front of me and beckoned for me to follow him. He led me into a small room which was, in a word, officey. I took a seat at one end of the large white wood desk while sideburns sat across from me.

"Good morning, Mr Haddock, I'm very sorry for my tardiness. Thank you for arriving on time anyway. I'm Hans, I'm the chief editor on this floor. I hope my unprofessional manner doesn't make you feel uncomfortable, but I run this business like it's a family. Should you choose to take up a position here, I will not be your boss. I will be your brother."

"Wow, okay uh… That's actually a very good way of looking at things."

"It is, right? Why else would we have the highest employee satisfaction rate and lowest employee stress levels in the state?"

"You must get a lot of people trying to work here then?" I asked, feeling smaller and more insignificant with every word I said.

"Oh yeah, at least thirty applicants a week, but you, Hiccup, stood out to me. That's why I agreed to give you a chance."

That was definitely unexpected…

"I stood out to you, sir?"

"Sure did. You graduated from college with all B grades, correct?"

"Yeah, but that's not-"

"I like a middle man, Hiccup!" He suddenly yells, banging his hand down on the table, making me flinch. "You're not an idiot and you're not a complete know-it-all either. You're the exact person I like to hire. You probably didn't spend _all_ your free time in school studying, which means you had a social life of sorts… And you didn't completely avoid schoolwork altogether since your grades are one off perfect. People with B grades come across as the ideal employees because it tells me you're smart enough to get higher, but you didn't because you spent your time living, and not stuck in a library, wasting the precious hours you have on this earth. You are the perfect mixture of laid-back and focused and I need more people like you working here."

I was speechless.

"So anyway, let's get down to this interview. You might have already guessed this, but it's going to be slightly unorthodox."

I nodded. Somehow, I _had_ guessed that.

The unorthodox questions threw me slightly but overall, I thought I did a pretty good job at answering them, eliciting a laugh from Hans at a few answers. Perfect.

The interview ended much sooner than I'd expected it to, and at 9:41am, I was back in my car, staring out the windscreen, too happy to move.

It had gone well.

" _I look forward to working with you, Hiccup."_ Hans had said as we fist-bumped on the way out. I couldn't wait to work with _him_. What an amazing guy.

Before I started the car, I called Dad. The phone rang off for a full minute and he didn't pick up. Oh well, sometimes he left his mobile phone in stupid places. I decided to try the house phone, but to no prevail. He didn't answer that one either.

Don't worry Hiccup, he's probably in the shower or something… I tried to convince myself it would be fine when I got home even though I knew what Dad not answering his phone really meant. I had to get home, fast.

Dad had cancer. No other way of saying it really… He'd been diagnosed a couple of years ago with an unknown strain of cancer in the blood, and it was really too late for any kind of treatment that could lead to a miraculous recovery. Sure, he was on medication to stop certain symptoms but there was no getting around the fact it wasn't going to go away for good. Also, we couldn't have afforded any of the chemo in a million years.

That's why I applied for this job even though I already work in two restaurants in town.

Dad's cancer was new. Even the doctors had never seen it before. Which meant it was dangerous because they still weren't sure what it was capable of doing to the body. So far, we knew that the main symptoms were: fatigue, heightened metabolism and quite often, it would cause his throat to collapse. Incurable, but able to be slowed down. Quite often, I'd come home to see him passed out on the sofa from exhaustion. I hated seeing him like that.

Before I knew it, I had pulled up outside my house and was running up the path. God, I hoped I wasn't too late. I quickly unlocked the door and ran in.

"Dad?" I called. No answer. "Dad?!" Finding no sign of him downstairs, I legged it up the stairs and into his room.

"Oh jeez, Dad…"

He was indeed passed out, on his bed. But he was breathing fine, and didn't seem to be in any trouble. I'd always been terrified of coming home to find him unconscious or worse.

Once, I remember coming home from school last year to find him on the floor, not breathing. That had been a terrifying experience. I had been fourteen at the time, and luckily had just had a first aid training day, so I managed to get him back, but after that, made sure to take as many free paramedical courses as I could.

It was just me and Dad in this little house after all. My Mum died when I was a few months old.

I didn't want to wake Dad so I moved him to make him more comfortable on the bed and then went downstairs to start making lunch. It was still early. Only 10:02am actually, but I hadn't had any breakfast before rushing out this morning, and Dad would almost definitely be hungry when he woke up.

Thirty minutes later, I'd made some tuna pasta and put in in a tupperware box in the fridge, ready for later. Now I just had to amuse myself until Dad finally woke up. I decided to catch up on some TV for the day, so I flopped onto the sofa with my laptop and began streaming Supernatural, a show I'd been obsessing over and binge-watching for months now. I'd gotten through a season every two weeks which was pretty good, especially considering how crap our internet connection was.

Between every episode, I pulled out my headphones to listen out for any sounds from Dad. Nothing. After the fourth episode, I went up to check on him. Nothing out of the ordinary…

Another three episodes later, it was mid-afternoon and I was hungry. I ate my half of the tuna pasta and then sat at the kitchen counter and went through my Spotify discover playlists. Spotify discover was a feature that selects a bunch of songs that are recommended for you based on your play history. Some pretty good songs were on there this week actually…

4:19pm.

This was beginning to get ridiculous. Even on a bad day, Dad never usually stayed asleep this long. I needed to wake him up.

"Dad?" I called as I climbed the stairs, the box of pasta in my hand. "You awake yet?"

There was no reply.

"C'mon Dad, you're worse than me… You've gotta get up." I pushed open the door and saw he was still lying in bed, in the same position I'd left him in. He was still.

Terribly still.

"Dad?"

I dropped the tub and ran to the bed, grabbing my Dad and pressing my ear to his chest. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. His face was pale, his lips tinged slightly blue.

"Oh god, Dad no!" I screamed, dragging him to edge of the bed and then onto the floor. He'd have a bruise from where he landed but that wasn't important. I began to resuscitate him to the best of my ability. Pump, my hands rhythmically pushed onto his chest.

Ten times.

Twenty times.

Thirty times.

"Dad wake up!"

I pressed my lips onto his and blew, watching his chest inflate and then quickly deflate. Again, I kept this pattern up until I was going purple in the face from effort.

"Dad please!" I was screaming, tears spilling across my cheeks and onto his plaid shirt. "Don't do this! Please don't do this! Dad?!"

And finally, he spluttered. A wet, gurgle of a breath came out and his eyes shot open.

"Hic-" He began coughing and wheezing on saliva in his throat.

"Dad…" I pulled him to a sitting position so he wouldn't choke and hugged him tight. "Dad, don't do that to me ever again, okay?"

"H-Hiccup, I'm sorry." He whispered, holding me back in his massive arms. Even with his deadly cancer that threatened to steal him from me every single day, his arms were the warmest and safest place I knew of in the world. I shut my eyes as tears streamed down my face. "Shh, it's alright. I'm okay. Thank you son." He kissed my head and we stayed in that loving embrace for almost half an hour.

"I uh, I made you pasta." I sniffed after a while, and reached out of the cuddle to pick up the box on the floor. "Do you want some?"

"I'd love some pasta, Hiccup." He smiled.

"I'll just go grab you a fork. Hang on a sec." I wriggled my way out of the warm cocoon and shakily got to my feet. Then I practically bolted down the stairs, and returned mere ten seconds later with a fork. Dad was sat on the bed.

"Thanks Hiccup." I sat down next to him.

"For what? The pasta or the saving your life? That's become an occupational hazard by now, Dad."

"But this, all of this, all of me, it's just-" He clenched his fists. "I wish it didn't have to be us, you know?" There was an awkward pause. "How'd the interview go?"

"Great. Pretty sure I'm hired." I said, trying to sound happy, despite the traumatic events a few moments ago.

"Well that's brilliant, Hic. Well done." Dad sounded pleased. Good.

We sat in silence for a few minutes while he ate his pasta, and when he'd finished, he decided it'd be best if he got some more rest. So I helped him back into bed and then told him to put his phone on his pillow and leave the door wide open just in case he needed me again.

I was praying he wouldn't...

 **Hope you liked it! I figured some backstory was kinda necessary... Also, I'm really not very knowledgable about different cancers (it started as being leukaemia because my uncle had that, but I started to get upset writing about it so I changed it). And having an 'unknown' type means I can make up the symptoms etc. =more sadistic fun! Okay, I think I'm going to have one more flashbacky kind of chapter after this and then we'll get right back to the story.**

 **Thanks for reading so far and if you can, please be a dear and leave a review. Thanks xx**


	7. Invitation

**Okay, wow. I'm proud of mysef for managing to get this updated so quick... This chapter follows on from the previous one (yeah, no shit) (well, it's a flashback chapter so...). Anyways, I hope some of you noticed the references last chapter. I sure tried to cram lots of them in. Stabbington Publishing? That was fun. And Hans being a character? That'll be relevant later... Hehehe**

 **Okay, so here's the next chapter. And sorry it's really long, but I didn't want to upload it really short and have too many flashback chapter so here it is...**

 **Enjoy xx**

The rest of the evening went very calmly and quietly. Dad slept for a few hours and then came downstairs to find me on the sofa, watching yet more Supernatural.

"S'that that show with the angels and all that voodoo stuff?" He flopped down next to me holding two cans of Coke. "Those two are definitely a thing." He said, pointing to the screen at the point I'd paused it. Dean and Castiel were on screen.

"Oh wow Dad, you're quick to catch on. They're like a Ron-Hermione thing. It's totally obvious but neither of them will admit it." I was impressed by his quick interpretation of Destiel.

He handed me a Coke and I took a sip.

"D'you know what time it is, Hiccup?"

"Uh," I checked the clock in the bottom corner of my desktop screen. "Crud, it's nearly eleven... Sorry I didn't wake you up, did I?"

"Nah, I can't get to sleep anyway. Can I watch an episode?"

"Well, I'm on season six, so none of it'll make any sense-"

"Don't care, I just wanna see what it's all about and figure out why you're so obsessed with it."

"Oh right, well okay then." I pulled the progress bar right back to the start and pressed play. I had only been about ten minutes into the episode so I didn't mind restarting it. So far, it had been one of the weirdest and funniest episodes I'd watched.

Forty-five minutes later, the credits began to roll and I turned to ask my Dad's opinion. He was fast asleep.

"I'm flattered by your appreciation Dad, really…" I grumbled. I watched him for a minute, grateful for the gentle rise and fall of his chest that, mere hours ago, I was terrified I'd never see again. I didn't have the strength to take him up to his room, or the heart to wake him up, so I peeled myself from the sofa and crept up the stairs to get a blanket and some pillows. I tucked him in as best I could and then went upstairs to my own room.

I left every door leading from the attic to the lounge wide open so I would be able to hear if Dad woke up or if anything happened.

Today had been way too stressful. Tomorrow, I'd have to wait for a phone call from Stabbington and see if they wanted me in at all. Tomorrow would be better. Tomorrow-

The sound of dreadful, choking coughs echoed up the stairs.

"Dad!"

One hour later

I hadn't been fast enough, precise enough, strong enough. I'd sprinted down the stairs to find Dad on the floor, hacking up blood and twitching horribly. He couldn't breathe.

And I didn't know what to do. He hadn't stopped breathing. He just couldn't. Something blocking his airways? Or… I had no idea.

The waiting room was the worst part. Pure white, everywhere. No colours, besides the posters of smiling people hanging behind the receptionist. Yeah, like anyone smiles in a hospital…

I'd called 911 when I realised I couldn't do anything, and for once, they'd arrived pretty quickly. Sirens blaring, lights flashing, stretcher rattling. The neighbours all stood around, curiously watching. I had felt like screaming at them.

I was forced to do nothing but watch as my Dad was loaded into the ambulance, and several tubes and machines were attached to him. I wasn't allowed in the ambulance with them because there was 'no room'. There was plenty of room, the pricks.

So I ran back inside, grabbed the car keys and followed the ambulance, not giving the slightest care about speed limits, red lights or stop signs. As far as I was concerned, I had every right to drive just as fast as the ambulance ahead of me was going.

The waiting room was the worst part. When we finally arrived at the hospital, I lost track of the ambulance as it went into the underground exit point. I had to quickly park up and rush in through the main doors.

"M-my Dad, he- He just got in." I panted to the receptionist. "Where-? Where would he b-be?"

"Calm down sir. If he's only just been admitted, he'll most likely be in ER but you'll have to fill out some of these forms for him before I can let you pass."

"Wh- what? But, but he's-"

"I know it must be distressing for you sir, but these forms are necessary if we're to help your father."

It would be safe to say nobody has ever written their father's name, address, phone number and medical history as quickly as I did in those few moments.

"Now can I see him?"

"I'll process these now and find out where he is for you. Just wait here for a minute please." And with that, the receptionist scuttled away through a back door.

After standing for a few moments and not seeing her return, I took a seat on one of the blue stackable chairs and reached into my pocket for my phone. Shit. I had left it at home.

I sat, in a state of utter depression, waiting, with no way of distracting myself from the septic smell and sounds of beeping machines and crying kids. Dad would be fine. _He would be fine._

At least an hour passed and I was offered a drink several times by different women walking through the waiting room. I refused every time. My stomach was churning and threatening to empty itself already. I was scared adding anything to my system would trigger an immediate upchuck.

1:18am.

I was about to lose all control of myself and march right through to find Dad myself when a doctor entered from the double doors, carrying a clipboard and scanning the room.

"Are there any immediate family members to Stoick Haddock here?"

I stood up so fast I gave myself headrush and nearly fell over again. "Yes!"

"Okay, you're his… son? Hiccup? Please follow me."

"Is he alright?!" I hurried to keep up with the doctor, who was not much taller than me and only looked to be a few years older. Still professional and experienced looking though.

"Your father's condition is unstable." He replied, opening a door to a small office and beckoning me inside. "I know I'm not your regular doctor, so I'm not completely familiar with your father's medical history, but from what I've been able to read in the records, the form of cancer he has is… unchartered. Therefore, I can't make a good judgement of exactly what is causing his breathing problems. From what we can tell, there is a major blockage in the right lung, which is causing his complete inability to draw in enough oxygen." He paused, giving me a moment to process this information.

"He is currently under the assistance of a ventilation machine, which is providing him with an adequate amount of oxygen to keep his brain functioning, but he isn't conscious." The man looked right into my eyes as he continued to speak. "With the permission of his closest relative, since he's unable to make the choice himself at the moment, we'd like to perform a lung transplant on your father as soon as possible."

My breath suddenly hitched in my throat as if I'd lost one of my own lungs. A transplant? Dad would have to get a whole new lung, from another person's body?

"I know this is probably very distressing, but d'you think you can make that decision for him?" The doctor's brown eyes were so intense, yet oddly kind and gentle.

I nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. D-do whatever you can, please…" My eyes failed at their job of keeping their tears contained and I was quickly a sobbing, shaky mess.

"Mr Haddock it's alright. This reaction is completely normal but now you've given us your consent, your father will be fine. Finding a donor at such short notice might present a small hurdle, but I promise you, I will make sure your father receives the best care we can offer until we find a donor."

There was a moment of silence, in which I managed to get my sobs under control long enough to hear the doctors next words.

"Of course, and I hate to bring it up now, but there's also the cost. Organ transplants are extremely difficult procedures and with that comes a price. For a single lung that would match your father's in both size and tissue type, you'd be looking at about this much…" He handed me a small slip of paper with a number on it.

Holy crap…

"I- I can't afford this… It's- oh god, Dad I can't." I broke down again. There were far too many digits on that number. Especially considering I had no job as of yet, and we were living on minimum wage anyway.

"There are always government loans which you are entitled to, Hiccup. We won't give up on your father because of price."

I looked up at him, hopeful. He was glancing across the office towards the door, where another man was stood. Much taller and with a greyish complexion and striking golden eyes.

"Hiccup, this is Mr Black. He's made a very good name for himself at this hospital for providing loans to people such as yourself. He's wealthy and kind enough to offer some of his ruches to particular people when he feels it necessary."

"What a gracious introduction, Tadashi. Thank you." Mr Black glided into the office and sat in the chair next to me, across from the doctor, Tadashi was it?

"I couldn't help but overhear your little dilemma, Hiccup my boy. You're in need of money for your father's operation, correct?"

I nodded. What the heck was going on?

"Well, what would you say if I told you I would pay completely for his surgery?" I gaped at him. "No strings attached. All you'd have to do is prove that you deserve my charity."

"What do you mean, prove I deserve it?" I was beginning to get suspicious. This was weird.

"I mean, I don't want to go around giving away my riches to people who don't deserve it, do I? I want to help worthy people, and so far, you seem like a good egg to me."

I looked between him and Tadashi, who was staring at his feet.

"And how would I prove myself?" I asked.

"Glad you asked. I am having a dinner party tonight and it's a tradition of the Black residence to hold an after dinner game. Why, Tadashi here is actually an ex-winner of the particular game, aren't you?"

Tadashi raised his head to look at Black but doesn't say anything.

"Anyway, the winner of the game instantly becomes the winner of my generosity. I can get your father a donor lung by tomorrow. I have connections everywhere."

"You'd really do that?" I was stunned by this man. Confused and amazed.

"And Hiccup, even if you don't win, you'll be getting a wonderful free meal." Black smiled, staring at me. His eyes were intense, but cold and nowhere near as friendly as Tadashi's had been.

Black could pay for Dad's surgery and find a donor. And all I had to do was win a game at a dinner party? Sounded way too simple.

"Are you serious? I mean, I don't know anything about you or-"

"Oh I'm dead serious, Hiccup. I'm an unbelievably rich man who knows what he wants. To help those in need, and right now, you are definitely firmly lodged in that particular category, wouldn't you agree?"

I knew how sketchy this was. I knew I should've said no. I knew I shouldn't have trusted a complete stranger with the funding to my Dad's life.

But he was offering too much. Too much for me to refuse, for Dad's sake.

"Okay." I set my jaw and said it. Tadashi coughed. "Where do I go? What time?"

"Dinner will begin at seven tonight. I've already taken your details from the medical files. A car will pick you up at six thirty. Thanks so much for accepting, and I look forward to playing with you." Black stood up and shook my hand. Then, with a quick nod and a smile at Tadashi, he left.

"You won a game?" I asked Tadashi after a while of silence.

"Years ago, yeah I was invited to one of his things. He holds them every year with different people and there's one winner."

"Why did you play?" I was suddenly curious. What could a doctor, doctor being a pretty freaking well paying profession, have needed money for?

"Before I became a doctor, my brother got into a pretty bad car accident. Broke about half his bones and was in a coma for six months. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't pay the bills, and I figured, Black's offer was the best thing out there, so I went for it. And I won." His eyes began to glisten and I decided not to press on with such a touchy subject.

"I know I probably shouldn't ask, but is this legal? What he's doing, I mean?"

Tadashi didn't respond. His eyes were glazed and he was staring at his feet again.

"Right. My Dad is fine to stay here until tomorrow then?"

"Oh yes. Yeah, that's completely fine. We have your phone number. I'll alert you immediately if anything happens." He snapped out of his trance and opened the office door. "You should go and get some rest. Are you okay getting home?"

"I've got a car." I said, leaving the room. "Thank you Dr Hamada." I'd managed to sneak a look at his name badge and didn't want to be rude and use his first name.

"Tadashi, please."

Well, scratch that theory then…

The drive home was uneventful. It came as no surprise that there weren't many cars out driving at- I checked my watch- 2:49am on a Wednesday morning.

Tadashi had played and won… I kept that thought running through my mind as I pulled up outside the house and locked it. Black had paid for his brothers treatment… And he'd do the same thing for Dad. I was sure of it. I just needed to win.

I fell asleep quickly and dreamt of nothing in particular. Just the regular mix up of completely ludicrous ideas that made no sense in or out of context.

I slept in til well past noon, and didn't officially get out of bed until gone three in the afternoon. Then, I spent the rest of the afternoon getting ready and watching more Supernatural.

I decided on a pair of black trousers and a dark green button up shirt. I had actually showered too so my hair behaved a lot better than usual. After adding my favourite pair of black converses, I went and sat on the wall outside my house to wait for the car.

A few minutes passed and my phone started ringing. Unknown caller.

"Hello?"

"Hiccup? Great news. Stoick just woke up." It was Tadashi, sounding ecstatic.

"Really? Oh my gosh, is he alright?"

"We've still got him attached to the ventilator but he's conscious and has been watching TV for the past hour. I've given him his phone back too, so he might call or text you at some point later."

"Thanks, Tadashi."

"Hey Hiccup. Good luck tonight."

"Thank you. I'll do my best." A sleek black Audi appeared and stopped right in front of the house, making our little Peugeot look crap. "Gotta go. The car's here. Tell my Dad I'll see him tomorrow."

"I'm sure you will. And again, good luck." Tadashi hung up and I got into the car as the driver opened the back seat door for me.

"Mr Haddock?" He croaked. He was an old man, with wisps of grey hair sticking out at every angle.

"Yep. That's me."

"Lovely. In you get then."

The drive to the Black residence took about fifteen minutes and I was surprised by how close it was, even though I'd never seen the mansion in town before.

It was dark by the time we arrived so I didn't get a great look at the exterior of the place, but once inside, Black's wealth became very apparent. Dark wood walls, golden trims on every piece of red velveted furniture, a long red carpet, and paintings of regal looking people hanging everywhere.

My chauffeur left me in a high ceilinged room and not even thirty seconds passed before a woman in a long red dress and black blazer welcomed me.

"Hiccup, I assume?" She smiled, offering to take my coat, then realising I didn't have one and recoiling awkwardly. "I'm Gothel, the butler of Black Manor. If you'd like to follow me…"

I didn't know women could be butlers. Or at least, I'd never heard of one before. I followed her through endless corridors before we finally reached a set of double doors.

I just had enough time to correct my hair and shirt before the doors were swung open and we entered.

 _Let the evening begin..._

 **Aaaaaaaand we're back to where the nightmare started... No more flashback scenes now guys, so next time will carry on from chapter 5, 'No I in Team'. Anyone notice the subtle (IT WASN'T SUBTLE AT ALL) Tadashi character? If any of you have seen the film this dtory is based off of, you'll know that he's gonna become a very important character pretty soon. Spoilers! Agh.**

 **As always, please please please review because those notifications really make my freaking day and I love you all for even taking the time to read my story.**

 **Next time, get ready for Dagur weirdness and heroic rescues! Bye for now xx**


	8. Dagur

**Okay, chapter uh... where are we now? Chapter 8? Probably. I prefer naming chapters to numbering them but it does make it hard to keep track of them. Wow, i've been getting so much lovely feedback. Thank you all so much. For some reason, the reviews I've been getting recently aren't actually showing up on the story page or on my app version, so I'm having to rely on my email notifictaions to read them. They're all so nice! Thank you to Zephirad and SourLemons2002 for the long-ish reviews. I love getting those.**

 **Sour Lemons2002 - You've seen the movie?! Yes! It's great! And I am an English Language student living in England so correct grammar and spelling is pretty damn important to me... Thank you xx Short chapters... Uh, no excuse really. I don't want to leave you all waiting so long for each update so I try to be quick. Plus, this is a pretty punchy story with lots of cliffhanger moments that I want to torture you with. Hehehe**

 **This is the chapter containing the *ahem* sexual content... I was cringing so hard while writing it! I love reading stuff like this, but writing it is a different story altogether so sorry if it's awkward. Not much Jack in this chap either, but he'll be back soon. Don't panic. Enjoy xx**

"Found you."

Dagur slammed me against the wall, still gripping my throat in his meaty hand. I was kicking out at him, not really aiming, just flailing. He kept smashing my head back into the wall. Was he trying to knock me out? It was working. At this rate, I'd be unconscious with a few more hits.

"S-stop!" I managed to choke out, and this led Dagur to squeeze his hand tighter around my neck. I wasn't getting any oxygen now. My lungs burned with the effort of drawing it in, only for it to be halted by the arm shutting off my trachea.

"Trying to run, were you?" Dagur smirked, as my vision began to fade to black at the edges. "Did you really think that'd be possible, Hiccup?"

I didn't respond. I couldn't have even if I wanted to. The blackness was spreading across my eyes, threatening to blind me completely. Dagur was still speaking, mocking me, telling me how stupid I was, but none of it registered as more than slurred sounds to my slowly dying ears.

Just as I was about to pass out from lack of air, I managed to kick my leg up and collide with his groin. He jumped back, clutching it and hissing in pain.

"You little-!"

I took off running. With nowhere to go besides back the way I came, I began sprinting back to dining room, not caring if I was caught on the way by a guard. Hurtling around the doorframe, I quickly remembered my phone still planted deep in my pocket. I needed to find a safe spot to stop and call the police. Anyone. Heck, I was considering calling the army at this point…

"Hiccup, you can't run forever!" Dagur called, and upon turning around, I noticed he was only five feet behind me, running full pelt as well. Oh shit.

 _He's faster than me. He's catching up. Oh god no, I'm gonna die…_ I didn't want these to be my last thoughts. This corridor was going on for miles. Or was I slowing down-? Wait, no!

Dagur tackled me to the ground from behind, making sure to not dodge around my stabbed torso. It flared up in a searing pain as I fell on my stomach, Dagur's weight pinning me down.

"Get off! Let go!" I yelled, but was quickly stifled as Dagur reached down and pressed a hand over my mouth, effectively silencing me. But I wasn't going down without a fight. I bit down on his fingers. He yelped, withdrawing his hand quickly and I screamed again. I didn't know who I was screaming for. No one here would help me…

Unless, had some of the other guests made it out of the dining room? God, I hoped so.

Dagur, fed up with my struggling, rolled me over onto my back with such force that I briefly saw stars and rammed his forearm against my mouth. His thick suit material meant that my teeth had no effect anymore.

"Hiccup. I told you. You're not getting out of this." Dagur snarled, lowering his face to hover inches from mine. "You agreed to play the game, and now you _have to play_."

I struggled against him, trying to pry myself from under him.

"You think I'm enjoying this myself? Oh, I bet you do. That's what everyone thinks… That I'm exactly like my father. That sadistic bastard and I don't even come close. Sure, I find it funny watching all you idiots comply to everything he says, but after two or three years, things start to get a little samey, know what I mean? You get your heroic characters. That's Jack, Aster, Merida and the blondie, what's her name? Rapunzel. Then you've got the lone wolf. Here, I guess that's Astrid. The one's who die too early to even get a character. That'll be Rider and whatever that teacher's name was. I don't fucking care."

I felt hot anger rising throughout my entire body. How dare he talk about us all like that?!

"And then, there's you. Every year, there's always one guest my father favours over the rest… Usually the last one to get invited. Guess that's you, eh? But, doesn't look like you're gonna last much longer, does it? Electrocuted? Fingerless? And stabbed? Honestly, haven't you noticed? The others, they're trying to get rid of you first. Picking on the weak ones, as Astrid said. I like her. I reckon she's gonna win this thing."

I was choking back tears. I was not going to cry in front of this monster, despite how much I wanted to.

"I kinda want you to win though." Dagur whispered, bringing his lips so close to my ear I could feel his hot breath on my neck. "You're my favourite." He grabbed my hair with his free hand and yanked my head to the side before beginning to roughly kiss and bite along my neck and shoulder.

What was he-?!

His bruising kisses began to make their way down my neck and I realised with horror that Dagur was fumbling to unbutton my shirt. No no no, this wasn't happening. In one swift move, Dagur suddenly slid his hand under my shirt and began stroking it across my bare chest, while slowly working his lips down too.

Apparently distracted, Dagur removed his arm from my mouth and let that hand join in with exploring my body.

"G-get off me!" I yelled. "Get the fuck away! Help-!"

"Ah ah ah, Hiccup. None of that now… Just be quiet for now and when we're done, I'll deliver you right back to the game."

"No, s-stop!" I felt so violated, so weak. I was completely pinned to the ground by Dagur, and although I was glad he removed his arm, I also hated myself for the pathetic whimpers coming from my mouth. I gasped audibly as Dagur's hand slipped even further down and he began tracing circles around my bellybutton with his finger.

Urgh, I felt sick. This was sick.

"Relax, Hiccup. It'll be more pleasant for the both of us if you relax."

I couldn't see Dagur's face because it was buried into my neck but I could tell he was grinning. I had to get out of here somehow, or this maniac would do horrible things to me. Not that he hadn't already…

"Oh god Hiccup, I hope you win." Dagur lifted himself up on his knees and leaned further in, turning the harsh kisses into painful bites. I felt blood trickle across my chest.

With his knees gone, however, I could now move my legs. I took this opportunity to whack him hard in backside with my own knee, sending him flying forwards. He quickly regained his balance, way too freaking quickly, and sat back down on my legs to prevent me from kicking him again.

"That isn't very nice, is it? I'm your host. You should treat me with a bit more respect."

"I'm your guest. You shouldn't be trying to kill me." I snapped back, actually proud of my brain for coming up with a witty retort in this situation.

I was suddenly slapped across the face. I saw stars for a second and then a hot sensation sprung up on my cheek. Like an ice cube had just been pressed into a salty burn. I cried this time. I didn't care how weak I looked in front of Dagur now. He and his father had violated me in so many ways already, I didn't see any point in trying to be brave.

Satisfied, Dagur continued his sadistic fondling. At some point or another, he began to fiddle with the zip on my jeans and I screamed.

I could've sworn I heard someone shout my name from far away. Could someone hear me? Someone who would help me?

"Help!" I yelled, and for the third time, my mouth was gagged, this time by Dagur's lips. "Mmph, n-no. Fuck off-!"

And somehow, Dagur complied. His mouth disconnected from mine and I heard him yelling incoherently. I felt his weight shift off me and opened my eyes to see him being dragged away from me by another person, who? I couldn't see.

Jack?

Then, a gunshot rang out through the room and I saw Dagur slump to the floor a few feet from me, leaving the silhouette of my rescuer standing alone.

Hiccup! C'mon let's get you out of here. Can you stand?"

I recognised that voice.

"Tadashi?"

"Uh huh, I'm so sorry for letting you come here. I made a mistake. I should've stopped you. Now lean on me, let's go." He helped to pull me to my feet. "You hurt at all-? Oh Hiccup…" He trailed away at the sight of my mangled hand, missing a finger. "Pitch's the most disgusting fucker in the world. I'll kill him next chance I get."

"So you won your game, huh?" I croaked. "Well done. Don't think I'm gonna win this time."

"How many of you are left?"

"When I left, including me, six." I frowned. I _had_ heard a lot of gunfire and fighting going on in there though. What if someone else had been killed? "Did you just-?" I glanced to Dagur on the floor and Tadashi nodded.

"Nevermind that. Six of you left? Okay, here's what we're gonna do." He hooked my arm around his shoulder and we began to walk back towards the dining room. "I've got about eight bullets left in this thing, so that should be enough, right?"

I nodded.

"Okay, you're gonna go in there, grab the others, get out before anything goes bad. Pitch is gonna know something's up as soon as he sees me, so you've gotta be quick."

I nodded again. I could barely stand and he was putting so much pressure on me here, but fuck, I needed to get the others out of here. This plan could work. Tadashi clearly knew how to work a gun, and he'd won the freaking game last time. _He'd killed seven people before._

We rounded a corner and stopped dead.

Gothel was there, gun raised at us, smiling devilishly.

"Mr Hamada?" She cooed. "What a surprise! Why don't you join us. There are three spare seats at the table. You can take your pick."

"It's Dr Hamada to you, bitch. And I'm not here to play your shitty games." Tadashi shot.

And missed.

But Gothel didn't. I watched in horror as a bullet sliced through Tadashi's skull as if in slow motion and I was dragged down to the floor by his body dropping.

"Shame." Gothel said. "He was an excellent sport last time. Now Mr Haddock, I'm going to need you to come back with me. We've left the others waiting long enough. And we'd like to start round three." She held out her hand for me.

"Oh, and I'm very sorry about what happened with young Master Black. I'm sure Mr Black will be very sympathetic, so don't worry."

I took her hand. My brain wasn't working at all. I'd witnessed two deaths in the past three minutes and now I was being told to return to a torture game as if it was nothing. Tadashi, who was the only person who knew about my situation was gone, and I'd been completely felt up by my torturers perverted son.

Things really couldn't get much worse…

I was wrong.

 **Hiccup was wrong. And that's a first in itself, right? Oh wow, that was awful to write... Don't make me write sexual stuff again pls. Hehe Anyways, I have some really cool ideas for next chapter. Stuff containing liquid nitrogen and flamthrowers... Haha. I've got to go now because I have my first Psychology A-level exam. I really wanted to get this chapter up before I went, so here ya go and wish me luck! Til next time, stay frosty xx**

 **(That was awful. So sorry)**


	9. Firework Show

**Okay, I'm gonna say it. This hiatus has been UNACCEPTABLE and I'm so sorry. I promise it will never happen again. I'm so glad this chapter's up now because it's been stressing me out all week that I've been leaving you all in the dark for so long.**

 **Anyways... shoutouts!**

 **Sion - My exam went really well, thanks for asking! Also, thanks for the support. I love hearing reviews saying you're enjoying my story xx**

 **Suya - Thanks for noticing that. I didn't even notice that.. It's been sorted now though. Lol, "let's get you out of you". How many chapters? Honestly, not sure so far. If I'm following the plotline of the film completely, there may be another four, five, maybe six chapters after this... I don't really plan before I write so I can't give you a very good answer there. Sorry.**

 **Zephirad - Thanks again for sticking with this story from the start! Love you x I hated killing Tadashi, but it had to happen. Psychology went well. No flamethrowers yet... But here's your liquid nitrogen. Enjoy xx**

 **Guest - Thank you for your review, I guess. But I'm afraid I can't stop. Sorry for making you cry. Is it really that bad? Here *hands over a tissue box* pls don't be sad x**

 **Right, well, enjoy I guess x**

"Are you alright?" Gothel asked, actually quite sincerely.

"No." My voice croaked, and it sounded like I was gargling sandpaper.

"What did the young Master do to you, if I may ask?" She sounded genuinely interested and it sickened me. She didn't care. Why was she trying to make me feel worse?

I didn't respond, nor did I reward her with any indication I'd even heard her. As we continued to walk slowly back through the long hallways leading to the torture dining room, I couldn't help but wish Dagur had just killed me right there and then.

"Mr Haddock, I want to give you a personal apology on behalf of Dagur's unacceptable behaviour just now. He has always had problems controlling himself at these events, and it's usually quite easy to keep him on a reasonable leash, but tonight, with your somewhat impressive escape attempt, it drove him to do this. Although, I must say, he does normally take more of a fancy to the female guests. You were the exception, it seems."

Throughout her speech, I really wasn't listening. I was too busy wondering what had become of the remaining guests. God, I hoped they were all okay.

"Mr Haddock?" Gothel's voice shunted me out of my musing. "Mr Black will be informed of this and I doubt the game will continue in the same way once he hears what has happened."

Again, I stayed silent. What did that mean? What about the game would change?

"Here we are." Gothel rested her hand on the wood of a door but stopped before pushing it open. She put a hand on my shoulder and asked again if I was okay. Then she straightened my shirt, which had been torn in a few places and wiped away some crusted blood (that I hadn't realised was even there) from the corner of my mouth.

"Thank you." I finally spoke. I was bewildered by how this woman could go from killing a man a few minutes ago to helping me to look slightly presentable and worrying about my wellbeing.

"Sir, I found him." Gothel ushered me through the door and into the room, where a sea of faces, all holding different expressions stared back.

Merida and Rapunzel looked relieved. Astrid, indifferent. Jack's face was a pained mixture of both relief and irritance. Was he angry I'd been caught?

"Ah good good, Hiccup. We were all just theorising how far you could've got. Of course, we could hear you screaming so the guesses didn't go past a few hundred feet." Pitch laughed, and then frowned. His eyes raked over my mussed up clothes and bruised neck. "Where's Dagur?"

He exchanged a look with Gothel and sighed, apparently understanding the situation.

"Please, Hiccup. Take a seat. The game will continue." Pitch stood behind me as I shakily sat down again, on my _blood stained_ chair. Jack held my arm firmly to stop me toppling over.

"Thanks." I turned to look at him, but before I could say anything else, Pitch was speaking barely audibly into my ear.

"I am dreadfully sorry about my son, Hiccup. I hope you can forgive me."

I said nothing. Pitch straightened up again.

"Okay, how many do we have left then? Five, it seems."

Wait, five? There were six of us when I left. Then who-?

I scanned the table. Jack and Rapunzel were still on either side of me. Merida and Astrid were sat a seat apart opposite. Flynn's seat was empty exactly opposite, as was Tooth's next to Jack, and there was a new empty seat next to the redhead.

"Where's Aster?"

"Pitch shot him when you got out." Jack replied monotonously.

"Oh god…"

"Yes. Aster is no longer able to continue playing, but let's not let the loss of a player drag the rest of us down. Now, Merida. I do believe it's your turn to begin a round."

"Aw nay." She grumbled.

"I'm going to shake things up a little this round, if that's okay with everyone. Gothel." He clapped his hands, and Gothel disappeared and reappeared at a ridiculous speed, carrying a metal bucket with a lid in one hand and something paper in the other.

"What's this all about?" Merida questioned when the bucket was placed in front of her.

"Merida, in this round, you'll need to make a choice, rather similar to the choice you made when deciding whether or not to even attend tonight's event. A choice between the known," He gestured to the bucket, "And the unknown." He took one of pieces of paper, which turned out to be a small black envelope, and threw that down next to the bucket.

"I don't get it." Merida said.

Pitch grinned. "Well, my dear, you see. This bucket," He took a thick red glove from Gothel and put it on, "Contains liquid nitrogen." He took of the metal lid and immediately a gush of white mist erupted from the bucket, spilling out like foamy water and spreading across the table. It was freezing cold. "As you have probably all learned from science lessons, liquid nitrogen is very cold. In fact, this particular batch is, what temperature is this, Gothel?"

"Minus one hundred and ninety eight degrees celsius, sir."

"Goodness. Now that is definitely cold enough to cause quite some damage if it's subjected to human skin for long enough."

Merida audibly gulped.

"Calm down dear, remember this is a choice. You can opt away from the liquid nitrogen if you wish. In the envelope in front of you is another option. In fact, you'll all have one." Pitch scattered the black envelopes across the table, putting one in front of each guest. "Do not open them yet." He suddenly snapped as Rapunzel picked hers up. "The point of this is to make a choice between the known; holding your hand in this bucket for sixty seconds, and the unknown; whatever it says on your card. You must trust your instincts. This isn't about being smart. It's about trusting your gut. The cards vary from rather harmless acts to more severe ones and you won't know what they are unless you first make to choice to go with the unknown."

"What if we choose, and then don't want to do what it says on the card? Can we change back?" Rapunzel asked.

"No. Your first answer is your only answer. Merida, you have thirty seconds to make your choice. Go."

"Oh crud. Uh…" Merida was panicking but nobody else said anything. "Guys, any input here'd be great?"

"Please make this decision on you own, Merida." Pitch sighed.

"Oh jeez, okay. I'll do the card." She blurted out.

"Okay, you've chosen the unknown." Pitch smiled. "Please open your envelope."

Merida's fingers fumbled with the seal as she tried to slit the black paper open. I watched apprehensively as she pulled out a small white card and looked at it.

"What's this?" She asked, flipping the card over in her fingers to show Pitch. As Pitch had wandered back to his seat, I could see the card too. It had no writing on it. Instead, a small black and white illustration of what looked like an explosion.

"Oh ho, Merida. My dear, you've really got this round off to an interesting start." Pitch grinned.

"Wha' is it?" She repeated, sounding impatient.

"You have to light a firecracker in your hand."

"Fuck. Are ye' serious?" She stammered. "I can't. I can't do that, it'll blow me whole 'and off."

"Gothel, fetch the utensils for Merida's choice."

Gothel returned a few seconds later holding a wooden box.

"Merida, stand up for me, would you? This might get a little messy." Pitch took her hand and helped her to stand and position herself behind the table, on top of the plastic sheets lining the floor. "Here you are." He handed her a round red objects with a string coming out of the top.

"This ain't a firecracker. It's a freaking cherry bomb!" Merida shrieked, suddenly panicking as one of the guards began to duct tape the bomb to her hand, leaving the string poking out.

"No no no, please! Oh god."

"Merida, please light the fuse when you're ready." Pitch pressed a lighter into her free hand and took several steps back.

"Ugh, I-" Merida was crying, tears leaking down her face.

"Light the fuse." Pitch repeated.

Merida stared at her hand, still shaking with silent sobs.

"Light it!" Pitch suddenly yelled, and Merida quickly flicked on the lighter and held the flame to the string.

Sparks flew and the fuse began to burn away.

"Here we go then." Pitch laughed. "You know it could be a dud. There's a chance."

"If it's a dud, do I have to go again?" Merida asked, voice shaking, halfway between laughing and crying.

"No, of course not."

The room remained silent, apart from the hissing of the sparking fuse as we all watched the string getting shorter and shorter until it reached the cherry and stopped.

Stopped completely. For a terrifying few seconds, there was no sound. Every eye was glued to the bomb in Merida's hand.

Merida smiled a little. "Heh, m-maybe it's not go-"

I was suddenly blinded by something wet hitting my eye.

And deafened by an ear splitting scream, followed by another.

I rubbed my hands over my sopping wet eyes and opened them. My hands were red. Red with blood. I looked up.

Merida was still standing, somehow. Her face was contorted in agony, a scream erupting from her mouth. When I glanced sideways, I knew why. Her hand…

She didn't have a hand.

Her arm stopped just above the elbow, white-grey bones and bright red muscles visible beneath shredded and burnt skin. The entire stump was gushing blood and her dress was drenched in it. As was the table and the faces of Jack, Astrid and me. Rapunzel had been out of the bloodsplatter radius, but she was screaming.

"M-Merida, you o-? Merida!" Jack leapt from his chair as Merida's eyes suddenly rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the floor. "Merida!"

"Jack, that chair will not bite. Sit down!" Pitch spat, chuckling a little at himself. "Gothel. Is Miss Dunbroch able to continue playing?"

"I think she's having a heart attack, sir." Gothel said, sounding unconcerned as she approached Merida and peered at her quivering body.

"Hmm, now?" Pitch waited a few seconds and then asked again.

"Dead now, sir."

"What a shame. I was expecting more from her, being an Olympian and all. Oh well, Gothel, remove her if she's unable to continue, and who's turn is it now? Ah, clockwise or anti clockwise? That's the question here, isn't it?"

I tensed up in the chair. If he went clockwise, Astrid would be next. If he went anti clockwise, it would be Jack. I wiped the blood - oh my god, not even my own blood… - from my eyes again and felt a horrid shudder run down my spine. It felt hot, soaking through my shirt sleeves and tingeing my makeshift napkin bandage a deep red colour.

"I think Jack still needs some training at sitting in his chair properly, so we'll let him use this time accordingly, I think. Astrid, the choice is yours… The known?" He gesticulated as the metal bucket was shifted across to stop on her placemat. "Or the unknown?" He tapped a long, grey finger lightly on her black envelope.

"Well, after that little firework display…" Astrid huffed, screwing up her lips. "Worse case scenario is a hell of a bad bit of frostbite, right?"

"That's more likely to be the _best_ case scenario, dear." Pitch smiled, placing his hands on her shoulders and leaning down to her ear. "Sixty seconds really is quite a long time…"

I accidentally caught her eye. And I was shocked by the terror glazed across the striking blue staring back at me. Astrid had put on such a brave front. I assumed she wouldn't have been at all bothered by anything thrown her way.

But then, she hadn't actually received any of the punishments herself yet, had she? Only inflicted them on the rest of us. On me.

I went to smile at Astrid, to reassure her, to tell her it was all okay, but stopped myself when I realised none of this was alright. I was kidding myself. This was fucked up and I knew it.

But her face. The sheer horror crossing it was sending me over the edge. I wanted nothing more than to run over and hug her. Hug the girl, who'd only twenty minutes ago, called me weak and tried to eliminate me by stabbing me in the stomach.

Funny how things change.

"Astrid, i-"

"Hiccup, your turn will come around soon enough. Please don't be so impatient." Pitch interrupted me quickly, squeezing Astrid's shoulders and eliciting a whimper from the blonde. "So, darling? What is your choice?"

She paused, her eyes darting between mine and the misty bucket in front of her. "W-what's the worst case scenario then?" She asked Pitch.

"Oh, I don't know actually. This is our first year using liquid nitrogen." He was actually laughing, a face of amusement and curiosity spreading across that blank canvas. "Gothel, do you know the answer?"

"I have an idea, sir." She replied, and smirked down at Astrid. "But why spoil the surprise?"

"Only one way to find out the worst case scenario, it would appear, Astrid." Pitch said. "Please make your choice now."

"Oh g- uh, I'll no- I-"

" _Now_ , please." Pitch repeated.

"Okay!" Astrid suddenly shouted.

And she made her choice.

 **... I'm so sorry for that cliffhanger! Please don't throw things at me. I honestly don't know which choice she should make yet. What do you guys think Astrid would do? Let me know. Also, don't panic if you're still waiting for HiJack-y stuff, it's coming!**

 **Aaaaand I'm sorry for killing off Merida. Really I am. I'd originally planned it so that 'The Big Four' would be left at the end but that idea wouldnt follow the plot that's in the film. Plus, Astrid needs some development, methinks...**

 **Again, I'm really really sorry for the horrible hiatus this week but I've been chucked into the deep end of exams and I'm halfway through them now. I've also been writing most of this story while I've been sitting in the cafe where I work and 'revising'. My boss is awesome. She gives me free milkshakes and lets me have cake for only a quid!Yeah, but awkward looking over my shoulder by other people has also been a little problematic, so don't hate me if updates take a while.  
**

 **Next chapter will hopefully be up very soon since I only have two more exams this week and I have the whole day free tomorrow! Thanks for reading. Pls review and bye for now xx**


	10. Frostbite

**First things first. To anyone who favourited or followed or even reviewed this story, thank you sooooooo much. You have no idea how happy it makes me every time I see a notification pop up telling me so. Which is also the reason that I need to say a massive sorry for the huge wait you've had to endure. I've been severely unmotivated recently. I'm not sure why, but every time I sat down to write this story, I'd just get a total brain death and get distracted by something. But I've been writing this chapter in little chunks at a time over the past two weeks and now I think it's finally ready to be shared with you guys... I'll do shoutouts at the end 'cos I know you want to get down to reading asap! Enjoy xx**

"Only one way to find out the worst case scenario, it would appear, Astrid." Pitch said. "Please make your choice now."

"Oh g- uh, I'll no- I-"

" _Now_ , please." Pitch repeated.

"Okay!" Astrid suddenly shouted.

And she made her choice.

"The liquid nitrogen?" Pitch repeated. "How interesting. Both for you and for me."

"Astrid no!" Rapunzel cried out when Astrid hovered her hand above the frozen fog still pooling out of the bucket and across the table. "That's way too dangerous. You'll lose your hand-!"

"Rapunzel, Astrid has made her choice so _please_ don't intervene. I'm sure she has taken all the health risks into careful consideration. Now, Gothel, assist Miss Hofferson with this please."

Gothel, who I hadn't noticed was stood right behind me, approached Pitch and then gripped Astrid's wrist tightly in her own hand, which was thickly gloved all the way up to her underarm.

"Oh wait a second. I've suddenly had a rather intriguing idea." Pitch halted Gothel before she could plunge Astrid's bare hand into the freezing bucket. "Astrid, I'm almost entirely sure that this will not kill you, so here is a challenge for you to complete. If you can make it through the sixty seconds submerged without screaming, crying, or even making a sound, I'll give you a free pass next round. You can skip your turn next round, in other words."

"What?" Astrid sounded confused and angry.

"Do you accept to partake in the challenge?" Pitch said again.

"Y-yeah whatever. But don't get your hopes up, motherfucker." She snapped, all patience and comprehension flooding out of her. "Just get on with it!"

"Gothel." Pitch strolled away and sat back down. "In three…"

Pitch placed his finger on the button above a stop clock on his placemat. "Two."

"You may want to take a deep breath." I heard Gothel whisper to Astrid.

"One."

Astrid's elbow jerked up in the air as her hand was pushed deep into the bucket, and her face screwed up. It didn't look like she was in pain from the cold though, just from the awkward position of her arm.

In fact, she wasn't reacting to the cold at all.

"How's it feel?" Jack asked. Clearly, he'd noticed her peculiarly calm body language too.

"It's… weird. Not as cold as I-" Her face immediately blanched, eyes widening. "Oh, oh god, that's- ow."

"What?" Jack questioned.

"Now it's pretty fucking cold! Ow, it's really fucking cold!" Astrid was breathing heavily through gritted teeth, and I could tell she was really trying not to scream. She wanted her free pass next round. But then, who wouldn't?

"You're twenty seconds in, Astrid." Pitch called, grinning.

"That all?" She hissed, lowering her head and staring at her lap. "Oh man, I can't feel my fingers…"

The bucket was still spilling thick silver mist but I noticed Astrid's arm - well, what was visible of it - was turning a horrible shade of blue, darkening every second I stared at it.

"W-what's happening to her arm?" I whispered to Jack, trying to keep my voice down so as not to alarm Astrid.

"Beginnings of frostbite, I think. Her skin is dying. It'll go black soon, unless she warms it up straight away… And there's not much chance of that happening right now so…" Jack trailed off, and I could tell why.

Astrid's face was contorted so violently that she seemed to be unable to even keep her eyes open, but her mouth wasn't suffering from the same issue. It was wide open in a silent scream. She was gripping her hair tightly with her free hand, as if trying to yank it out of her head and distract her from the pain in her hand.

"Astrid, I'll have to include that as a scream…" Pitch laughed.

Astrid swore loudly and then clamped her mouth shut with such force I was sure she'd broken a few teeth.

"How long is that now?" I asked Pitch.

"Thirty eight seconds gone." He announced. "I have to say, Astrid, you're doing incredibly well. How is your hand even still attached?"

"Shut up." Astrid barked, and immediately cried out. "I c-can't! Holy fuck. I can't feel my freaking arm-!"

"Fifteen seconds remaining, Astrid. Hold on or Gothel _will_ eliminate you from the game." Pitch drawled.

"C'mon Astrid, you can do it!" Rapunzel cheered, and suddenly Astrid's eyes shot up and glared at her.

"Ten…" Pitch began to countdown. "Nine, eight, seven…"

Astrid had tears leaking down her face now, and was biting back a scream.

"Six, five, four…"

"This has to be the slowest fucking ten seconds of my life!" Astrid yelled.

"Three, two…"

Everyone silenced themselves, waiting for the inevitable end to this deadly count.

"One. Gothel, release the girl. That, Astrid, was spectacular!"

The second Astrid was let loose, she dragged her arm out of the bucket and cradled it to her stomach, hissing through her teeth and rocking in her chair.

"Jack…" I breathed. "It went _black_."

For it had. Starting at her elbow, the pink skin gradually began to darken to a deep red, immediately followed by dark purple, bordering on blue. Her fingertips were the only exception to this pattern. They were a startling shade of white, completely frosted over. Her entire arm, and body for that matter, was shivering violently.

"I c-c-can't f-feel my ar- my arm…" Astrid's eyes were clamped shut and her teeth chattered with every barely audible word that left her quivering lips.

"You _can't_ feel your arm?" Pitch asked, prodding her shoulder curiously. When Astrid shook her head, he frowned. "Well, that's a shame, isn't it? This would be much more entertaining if you _could_ feel your arm, I must say. I'm slightly disappointed."

"Bastard." I heard Jack whisper in a threatening tone. Apparently, so did Pitch.

"Mr Frost, what was that you just said?"

"I called you a bastard because that's what you are, you sadistic son of a bitch!" Jack slammed his fist down on the table. Pitch immediately smashed his own hand on top of Jack's.

"Insult my mother all you want. Do you think I care? I'm trying to help you here, aren't I? You weren't forced into this. Any of this... " He straightened up and addressed the whole table (or, the four of us who were left). "All of you… Were any of you forced to come here tonight? No. You were picked up and brought here after your official consent and several times before commencing with the evening, I gave you all the opportunity to leave and did any of you take it? No. You decided to play all the same and-"

"We never agreed to any of this shit you're making us do!" Jack snapped.

"You want to play." Pitch sneered. "You want to win. You _need_ to win. It's the only reason you're here, isn't it? The only reason you're all here. The only reason you're still playing… is because you need to win. Because someone is counting on you. Even if they don't know it, which is most likely, since who would let someone bet their life on the result of a game? No, even though they don't know it, you do. And you know they're depending on you. That," Pitch glared right at me, "Is the only reason you keep playing."

"Wait, so we're all here because-? Oh fuck, I didn't know, I-" Jack lowered his eyes. "I thought it was just me… You're all here for somebody else?"

Nobody said anything, but an obvious mutual agreement floated among us. We were all here for the same reason. We needed to help someone close to us. For me, Dad.

"Jack, I hope I've made my point now. You are here of your free will because you want to win, there is nothing more to add-"

"But what about Merida and the others?!" Jack shouted. "Huh? What'll happen to the people they were playing for?"

I hadn't thought about that.

"They won't be receiving my charity. It's as simple as that." Pitch drawled, waltzing across to his seat at the head of the table and sinking back into it casually.

This man was completely sick. Completely psychotic. Completely deranged. Yet, here we all were, dangling our own lives and the lives of a person dear to us in his hands. I wondered who Jack was playing for. I wondered, but I didn't dare ask. It hardly seemed like the appropriate thing to do at that moment.

Tadashi had been playing for his brother and he'd won. Pitch _had_ followed through on his promise, hadn't he? An image of my Dad still laying in the hospital bed flashed in my mind and I gripped the tablecloth hard in my fist in anger. Tadashi was the only one who sympathised with us, with me… And now he was gone. And my Dad was alone.

Wait, Dad!

I moved my hand to my trouser leg and felt the pocket. My phone was still in there! How had I forgotten? I also remembered that I'd seen two texts and a missed call from Dad. That meant he was awake… or at least, he was coherent enough to try to contact me. I needed to find a way to check those texts and maybe even call him back. No, what was I thinking? I needed to call the freaking police at this point. My Dad was in hospital. He could wait a few more hours, maybe a day at best. I needed help more than him now. How could I be subtle about using my phone in this room full of guards though?

"Rapunzel, I think it's your turn now." Pitch broke through my thoughts with his cold, harsh voice and the blonde next to me let out a shuddering breath. "The bucket or the envelope?"

I shifted my knee ever so slightly and nudged Jack under the table. He looked at me, and I quickly darted my eyes down to my lap. Then, through my trouser leg, I pressed the home button on my phone, making the screen light up for a few seconds. The green coloured wallpaper of the lock screen glowed through my trouser leg dimly and I saw that Jack's eyes suddenly widened with understanding.

Without causing any attention to be drawn, he nodded quickly to me and then looked back to Pitch, who was still staring thoughtfully at Rapunzel. She was stuttering, trying to stall her choice.

Painfully slowly, Jack moved his hand to reach under the table and gently let it rest, palm-up, on my left knee. Did he want me to give him the phone? How was I supposed to do that without anyone seeing? Even reaching into my pocket would look suspicious at this point.

Jack's hand was warm. Extremely warm for someone with a name like Frost.

I began to ease my right arm off the table. The shooting pain from my missing finger not even bothering me as I lowered it slowly down to my leg. Why the fuck did my trousers have to have zips on the pockets? This was going to be a nightmare.

Before starting the impossible task, I glanced up and saw that Astrid was staring back at me, intrigued. With a quick glance at Pitch, she mouthed, " _What are you doing?"_

I was about to mouth back, " _Phone in pocket"_ when I caught Pitch's eye and quickly recoiled. I needed to wait for the right moment.

Jack's hand swivelled around and he gripped my knee gently in his hand. I took that as encouragement, but it might also have impatience. I wasn't sure.

"Rapunzel, dear? Your decision?"

I paused my quest in breaching the chasm that was my trouser pocket to listen in. Rapunzel was trembling, staring at the bucket in front of her with those huge green eyes. Her mascara was running down her face, melting into her lipstick and smearing across her cheeks.

I watched as she switched her eyes between the bucket, the black envelope, and Astrid sitting opposite, trying to decide what to do. Astrid's had was a black, broken mess. It was shrivelled and clearly no longer alive. But there was no pain, or even mild concern crossing Astrid's face. She was gritting her teeth and dealing with it.

I couldn't imagine Rapunzel being that strong.

"I- uh, I choose the envelope." She said quietly after a few seconds.

"Very interesting." Pitch smiled. "Okay, well go on then. Let's see what you've chosen…"

Rapunzel fumbled with the paper and eventually managed to hook her delicate finger under the paper flap and rip it open. She pulled out the card inside and looked at it.

"W-what does this mean?" She flipped the card over in her fingers and showed the illustration to Pitch, whose sharp face immediately curled into a harsh grin.

"My my, Rapunzel, it appears you've been let off lightly here." Pitch laughed. I examined the picture too. It was a pretty simple drawing. A single eye.

"That card requires you to have one of your eyes removed."

"How is that getting off lightly?" Astrid cried. "That's gotta be the worst one there!"

"Hush Astrid. Rapunzel has made her choice and once made, there is no return ticket, I'm afraid. Now, if you'd like to follow me, Rapunzel dear. The extraction process is quite complex so I'll require you to retreat back into a more sterile environment."

"No, you-"

I was suddenly interrupted.

My phone was ringing.

 **Dun dun duuuuuuunn! And that's why my phone is forever on silent or vibrate... Wow, this chapter wasn't the best, I'm not gonna lie. I did no research into what frostbite actually does. I just kinda guessed from what I've seen in films and whatnot. But poor Astrid, right? Also, did you notice the tiny bit of HiJack that's starting to happen? Did ya? x**

 **Shoutouts...**

 **prite: Decided on the known in the end just because I don't think Astrid would be reckless enough to put her own life in the hands of Pitch... Gotta say, I had some pretty gruesome ideas lined up for her unknown choice though.**

 **girlmixi: You watched the movie? It's great, right?! Well, kinda sadistic and really messed up but interesting nonetheless. Thanks for the luck wishes. I hope I did well xx Thanks for sticking with me through this crappy hiatus too x**

 **mini: I really didn't want to kill off Merida and I'm super sorry for doing it but I needed to eliminate someone and she was the ideal candidate... (aargh i'm a horrible person)**

 **Suya: I'm not dead, don't panic. Although, these exams just might be the death of me. You're learning about liquid nitrogen? That's super awesome! Liquid nitrogen has always fascinated me. Like, how can it be so damn cold? And also why is called a liquid when it's really a gas? And oh goah, so many questions... I should probably ask my chemistry teacher. Pls do watch the movie, it's great! And flamethrowers are coming, I promise!**

 **Zephirad: Hey friend! Thanks for reviewing again. I love hearing from you. No flamethrowers here yet, but I pinky promise to you they'll be making an appearance within the next two chapters. HiJack full force fluffiness is on the way. Good luck in your exams too and have a good vacation! Lol we call them holidays in England.**

 **Sion: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE WAIT! Thank you for your second review though. You really check every day? That was the best thing I think anyone's ever said to me about my writing. I can't believe you're that excited to hear from me. When you said that, it gave me the proper kick up the arse I needed to get this chapter finished and up for you to devour. You're one of my favourite people right now, so thank you so much. I hope you enjoy this chapter xx**

 **THANKS YOU TO ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! Last week, this story officially hit 1,000 views and although only a small percentage of you give me feedback, it makes me so happy to know so many of you are eager to read my lousy writing so please keep on reviewing and reading if you'd like to hear more. Next chapter will (hopefully (apparently I'm terrible at keeping promises)) be up within the next week. Thanks so much guys xx Love you all!**


	11. Boys and Girls

**Guys, I hope it hasn't been too long for you. This update wasn't quite as unbelievably late as the past few have been, but a week is still a pretty long time. Good news though. All my exams are now finished and I also passed my driving theory test yesterday! I was so worried about it and now I've got it out the way, I'm so happy! Unfortunately, I go back to school on Thursday. Urgh... But in other news, I'm getting my braces off on Tuesday! 17 and a half months and I'm finally going to be free. Can't wait. Anyways, sorry this chapter's a little short. Shoutouts will be at the end. Enjoy x**

I was suddenly interrupted.

My phone was ringing.

"Shit shit shit!" I hissed, fumbling with the zip of my trouser pocket so fast it ripped and the ringing, vibrating phone clattered to the floor and slid away towards Dagur's empty seat.

I froze.

There was a fraction of a second where I considered diving under the table after it, but quickly discarded that idea when Jack jumped out of his seat. I watched, almost dazedly, as he leapt up, picking up his chair in one swift move and used it as a battering ram, whacking the three guards stood behind us, sending them flying into the wall behind.

Shots rang out as the guards on the opposite side of the table began firing at Jack. Rapunzel and I ducked under the table, as did Astrid, who I collided heads with as we both hid at the same time.

All I could do was watch the several shiny black shoed people fight. I couldn't tell which one was Jack until a shout let me know.

"Guys, the door!" Jack's head suddenly appeared at our level and behind him, the door was open. "Run! I'll keep 'em off you for a bit. Go!"

"Don't be stupid, we're not gonna leave you here!" I yelled back. Rapunzel and Astrid were already legging it out the door and I saw them turn left in their escape, instead of going right, like I had before. Damn, they were gonna get lost…

"Hiccup, get the hell out now. I promise I'll catch up!" His head suddenly collided with the floor as a fist slammed it down. "Oh hell no you don't." He snarled and then jumped up, continuing the bloody brawl.

I waited until Jack had taken the fight away from the door and then began to slowly edge my way out. My phone had stopped ringing now and I grabbed it, shoving it into my untorn pocket before straightening up to my feet and pausing to look for Jack.

He was on the floor, being assaulted from all angles by at least six of the guys. I abandoned all ideas of leaving the room to go help him. I knew I couldn't fight them off as Jack could. I had literally no physical strength. But I might've been able to keep them off Jack for a while to let him recover a little. Then we could both make a run for it, find the girls and get the heck out of here.

There was my plan. Now, I just had to execute it.

"Hey!" I shouted, gaining the attention of three of the guards, who left Jack and began advancing on me instead. Oh crap. In a moment of blind panic, I reached over the table and grabbed the liquid nitrogen bucket from Rapunzel's placemat. It was surprisingly light, but I realised way too late that there was a reason Gothel had been using gloves to carry it. The handle was freezing cold.

So cold, I could actually feel my fingers sticking to it, like when you accidentally get hand stuck to a frozen lamppost or something. Before the bucket became irremovable from my skin, I lobbed it as hard as I could in the guards' direction.

Somehow, I managed to hit one of them square in the face. I looked away as he crumpled to the floor, clutching his face in pain. Right, that was one down…

Unfortunately, the other two guards running at me hadn't been deterred by their comrades defeat. They were still coming. Coming in fast.

Aargh crap, what else could I do?! I had exhausted all possible weapons when I threw that bucket. The table was empty of anything useful now… I could-

Nope, too late.

I was suddenly tackled to the ground, for the third time that night. And for the second time that night, I used the only tactic that seemed to work in this situation. I drove my knee hard into the man's crotch. He yelped and rolled off and away across the floor, whimpering. However, before I could even consider moving to stand up, the floor and ceiling switched places. Then I was attacked viciously by the wall.

Wait no, the wall can't move by itself, which meant…

The guy had thrown me headlong into the wall, in an attempt to knock me out, maybe? Fuck, I didn't care why he'd done it. I just wanted to get off the floor and out of there.

With Jack.

"Urgh…" I groaned as I tried to push myself up, the wound in my side reopening and spilling blood onto the floor. "Jack-?" I wheezed, praying he'd at least hear me, even if he couldn't help me.

The guy who'd pushed me was approaching again from behind. I could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer. Time seemed to slow and I could literally feel the air getting thick and hot as his hand reached out to grab me again.

There was a pause, and then I heard a yell.

"Stop!"

The room suddenly became dead silent.

"Stop everything. Put Mr Frost down, now." Pitch's voice, although angry, was quiet and collected. "And for god's sake, Gothel, get the other guests back here."

"No, don't-" I managed to gasp as Gothel's long skirt brushed across my feet on her way past. The girls getting out was just about the only hope we had of getting out alive. I kicked my legs out in an attempt to trip her up but she'd already scuttled out and was rushing down the hallway after Astrid and Rapunzel.

"Hiccup, are you quite alright down there?" Pitch asked, not sounding in the least bit concerned. I grumbled and struggled to push myself up into a sitting position, clutching at the open cut on my side.

"What d'you think, asshole?" I growled as I pushed myself up using a chair for leverage.

"My my, Hiccup. Is that language really necessary?" Pitch said, flopping back into his own seat and taking a sip of some tea.

 _One of the waiters had brought him a cup of fucking tea._

"Please gentlemen, return to your seats and we'll wait patiently for the arrival of the rest of the party before continuing."

"Hic, y-you okay?" Jack was already sat at his seat again, but he was in bad shape. He had a bloody nose and a swollen eye that would no doubt begin to bruise over horribly. Overall, he was shaking and seemed to be struggling to stay upright in the chair.

I didn't reply. I just limped my way over to the seat next to him and collapsed into it. To be honest, nothing was more important in that moment than making sure my entire blood supply didn't gush from the gaping hole in my side. That was probably why I didn't hear Jack's voice until his hand was shaking my shoulder roughly.

"Hey, snap out of it, man. Can- oh shit Hiccup, you're really bleeding…" Jack suddenly gasped and pressed his hands hard against the wound. I knew that applying pressure to a bleeding injury was something you had to do, but god, it hurt like a bitch being on the receiving end. "Is your breathing okay, Hiccup? Can you breathe?"

Jack was asking stupid questions. Or was he? My chest did feel pretty damn tight actually. Maybe that stab had breached something it shouldn't have.

"Y-yeah, I'm good." I said, trying desperately to keep my voice flat, and failing.

"Hic, it's gonna be okay." Jack looked me right in the eyes as he said this, without a hint of doubt crossing his tongue. "We're going to be fine. We'll get out of here."

As he spoke, I took in the details of his face. His pale skin, snow-white hair and slightly darker accenting eyebrows. The way his lips changed shape as he talked and the perfectly smooth jawline, despite the bloody marks caked along it.

How old was Jack? There was a question… Probably older than me as he was a trainee doctor, and I was an unemployed second year university student.

I wondered if I'd ever get to go to my university again. I actually had a pretty huge essay due in on the first day back. Since it was the Christmas holidays, I didn't have to attend classes until a week into January. That was the only reason I'd been home so much, looking after my Dad.

Dad…

My phone… Still in my pocket.

Had Pitch remembered? Had he realised?

He was still sipping his tea and staring at the doors.

"Hiccup. You still with us?" He asked, as he caught me looking at him. Apparently he hadn't realised. Must've forgotten about it in the scuffle.

Suddenly, a scream echoed down the corridor. Rapunzel's scream. Followed by several loud crashes and the sound of smashing glass.

After a few minutes, in which Pitch, Jack and I stared silently at the door, Gothel returned. She had Rapunzel grasped in one arm and was dragging her back in, with Astrid shuffling along behind her, staring at the floor.

"Welcome back, ladies. Please take your seats." Pitch grinned. "You know, the boys here put up quite a fight to try and give you more time. Rather impressive, actually."

Rapunzel gave me a sideways look as Gothel shoved her back into the chair next to me.

"Well, Rapunzel, I think you've stalled enough. Let's get on with the punishment, shall we? If you'd like to follow Gothel to the surgery room. Removing an eye is quite a delicate job, and when done correctly, it can be slightly less painful." Pitch smiled at her, then raised his eyebrows. "Also, I'm a little bit squeamish when it comes to anything involving eyes, so…"

Rapunzel didn't put up a fight as Gothel led her out through a small door behind Pitch and closed it behind them.

"And now we wait…" Pitch sighed, leaning right back and snapping his fingers at a waiter, who hurried off, presumably to get another cup of tea. "This round is fun. It always is. And we're only halfway through. You boys still have choices to make, don't you?"

I stared at the envelope in front of me in disgust.

It was my turn next.

 **Aaaaaand there ya go, my friends... I decided that writing about eye removal definitely wasn't going to work considering how sqeamish I am irl so it'll happen elsewhere and I'll write about the aftermath (if she makes it (dun dun duuuuun)).**

 **Okay, shoutouts to all my fantastic reviewers... I love you all!**

 **mini: You're the first review I got and I was so flattered. Thanks for saying that, I'm glad you're following so closely :)**

 **Sion: Wowwwwww, you are very persistent... I think your reviews are the main motivation I had to upload this chapter asap. Thanks for your incredible support. It really makes me happy when I see a review from you xx I agree. Jack Frost is perfect. I've actually met Chris Pine (voice actor for Jack) before (we had a selfie session and everything). Best moment of my life!**

 **Suya: Like I said, I really don't want to write about the extraction so I won't. Sorry if it disappoints you xx**

 **girlmixi: You went to animecon? That's like one of my life goals. Comic con or animecon, whichever one I can get to sooner... And thanks for watching the movie. It's great, isn't it? I actually just finished rewatching it again before uploading this chapter. I didn't expect the ending at all, but don't panic. I don't think I'll end this story the same way the movie does. It was just too cruel.**

 **SourLemons2002: You've seen the movie too? I'm not sure whether I'm going to end it the same way the movie ended because it was just so horrible :( Thanks for the review xx**

 **Zephirad: Hey again x Phones are so annoying sometimes... especially when they go off in awkward situations (perhaps not as deadly as Hiccup's situation). Hope you like the HiJack in this chapter. I'm trying to slowly add more and more in but still trying to be subtle about it. I have a feeling next chapter will contain an awful lot of fluffiness though! I've finished my exams now, and have been spending the last three weeks going to University open days. I'm hoping to go to a University to study English and Creative Writing. My top chocie is Gloucestershire University and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get the UCAS points to qualify for it. Can't wait xx Thanks for staying with this story this whole time. Love you xx**


	12. Warm Frost

**READERS OF THIS STORY I APOLOGISE SO FREAKING HARD. I'm sorry for being the world's biggest twonkfaced bumhead by making you wait so long. And this chapter isn't even that long. I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO HATE ME MORE THAN HITLER AND TRUMP COMBINED. But I am so happy that you all still took the time to review and read and acknowledge that this fic is still going... I'm just gonna stop talking here and let you read. Updates, excuses and shoutouts will be at the end. Enjoy xx**

I stared at the envelope in front of me in disgust.

It was my turn next.

A high pitched, choked scream rang through the room, and my heart immediately sank to the floor. Another scream of agony. What had Pitch said? Doing it right could make the process slightly less painful? From the sound of it, Gothel was either less than qualified or Pitch was a dirty liar. I had no doubt that the latter was true.

Pitch sat completely calmly, sipping from his teacup almost oblivious to the rest of us- actually, the rest of us was a generous way of putting it. Only Jack, Astrid and I were left, not including Rapunzel.

I stared at my hands, sitting in my lap.

How had this happened?

How had everything gone so wrong? And in such a short space of time… It wasn't even three hours ago that I'd been stood in front of my mirror in my safe, but lonely house, making myself look presentable. If only I'd known then the only person I needed to impress was a sadistic madman. I wouldn't have left the house.

Dad…

No, this was all for Dad. I needed to win. I needed the money. The treatment to keep my only family alive, even for just a little bit longer.

At what cost? What was I willing to do to save him? Kill? No, I hadn't killed anyone. Pitch had done that. Hadn't he? He shot Toothiana. He had Aster killed. He made Merida blow herself up. But Merida… She'd stabbed Flynn. She killed him.

No!

She had no choice. I hated myself for even thinking that. None of this was anyone's fault other than Pitch's. And now that bastard was slurping a cup of tea while Rapunzel's screams of agony echoed throughout the room.

At that moment, I wanted to kill him myself. I moved my gaze away from my lap to Jack, sitting on my left. He was shooting Pitch with a glare lions would fear, clenching his teeth so hard I was amazed they hadn't crushed themselves. His hands though, were relaxed, his right hand hanging by his side, open, palm turned in my direction.

I gasped inwardly. My phone! I still had it. And clearly Jack had remembered too, and was holding his hand out because he wanted me to pass it over. Slowly, I took the sleek black rectangle out of trouser pocket and swapped it to my left hand, glancing quickly up to Pitch every now and then to check if he was looking. Then, in a quick movement that I managed to disguise as a shifting in my chair, I pressed the phone into Jack's hand.

He jumped slightly, surprised. I saw his eyes slide across to me, without moving his head.

And then he did something I definitely wasn't expecting. He curled his fingers around the phone and my hand.

And didn't let go.

He squeezed his fingers, the cold phone sandwiched between our sweaty, shaking hands. It was definitely awkward, trying to keep a nonchalant expression while Astrid, who'd noticed something was up, raised her eyebrows at me questioningly.

What was Jack doing?

Every thought, every step of my pseudo plan to escape, every logical emotion I should've been feeling at that point was erased and all I could force my body to do was freeze, trying to silently tell Astrid to keep quiet.

She had no idea how fast my heart was racing.

She didn't understand how many butterflies were tickling my stomach.

I didn't understand any of it either.

Jack's fingers were so warm, so pleasant to touch. Warm Frost.

I'm not sure how long our hands remained entwined. All I knew was that neither of us dared to move them.

Another scream from Rapunzel.

Jack squeezed my hand comfortingly. And somehow that tiny gesture, that small bit of pressure, blocked my ears and I could suddenly hear nothing but my own blood pumping around my head.

God, why is he still holding my hand?

 _My phone, dammit, he's holding my phone. Not my hand… Why would he be holding your hand, Hiccup, you idiot._

I was just about to push the phone into his hand and move my own away when Jack beat me to it. His fingers slipped away and quick as anything, he put the phone onto his knee and left it sitting there, replacing his hand on the tabletop.

"-ccup?"

I heard a faint call. My name? Yeah, that was definitely my name. Who else had a name like mine? I scowled to myself.

"Hiccup? Jack, be a dear and check he's still alive, would you?"

"Fuck you, man."

Yep, that one was Jack's voice, for sure.

What was that about checking I'm alive? Oh yeah, alive people tend to move, don't they? I jerked my head up suddenly, realising I'd been completely dazedly staring at the wall for too long.

"And there he is…" Pitch laughed, but his cackle was quickly cut off by a loud bang. I snapped my neck to look for where the sound came from.

The door.

Gothel was stood there.

"Finished already?" Pitch dramatically looked at an imaginary watch on his wrist. "Everything go accordingly, I assume?"

I could've sworn a vein in my temple exploded in anger as soon as I caught sight of Rapunzel. She was cowering behind Gothel, both hands pressing a green cloth to her face, specifically her right eye. The cloth was only half green, the rest dyed reddish-brown from blood.

She was crying.

"Rapunzel dear, that wasn't so bad, was it? Now what are all the tears for? Gothel is an expert." Pitch chatted away as she staggered back to her seat next to me. I stood up to help her as she approached. Apparently Jack did the same thing because his chair slammed into my hip and I winced when my knife wound flared.

"Are you okay?" I asked, gripping Rapunzel's hand tightly as she flopped into the chair and pressed her back into the cushions.

"No." She sobbed.

"How's depth perception with only one eye? Apparently you don't have any, but how should I know? Pray tell, Miss Corona, I'm curious."

"Shut your mouth!" Jack snapped. "What the fuck is your problem?! Do you find all this amusing? What's so funny about torturing us all to death? Seriously, if this is entertaining for you, you've got a real fucking problem, man!"

"Now now Jack, I thought we'd gone over this. You're not playing for my entertainment. You're playing to win my money. My generosity is the only reason you haven't left this room yet. Hiccup got out of the room once, and he discovered for himself that the outside is much worse than the inside. There are no rules on the outside. Anything can happen. Isn't that right, Hiccup?"

I felt Jack and Astrid's eyes land on me. Pitch was talking about Dagur.

And Tadashi.

"Y-you k-" I couldn't get the words out, no matter how I tried to phrase them. It wasn't worth it.

"My son." Pitch stated. "Dagur, my son, abused you in ways I can't believe ever happened. And for that, Hiccup, I'm sorry. I wouldn't wish that treatment upon my worst enemy, let alone an admirable man such as yourself."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Jack asked, tennis matching his head between the two of us.

"Hiccup was sexually assaulted by my son." Pitch stated, obvious disgust coming through with every syllable.

"What?" It was Astrid who spoke now. Jack sat back, completely speechless, hand resting on his forehead. "Hiccup, s'that true?"

I nodded, only moving my head a millimeter each way. My eyes were glued to the floor. I wanted the floor to eat me, not just swallow me. Bite and crunch and chew until there was nothing recognisable left and only then swallow.

Why had Pitch said that? The bastard.

Oh Hiccup…" Astrid reached across the table, her hand out, offering for me to hold. I didn't take it.

"Whose turn is it now?" Pitch clapped his hands, apparently trying to change the subject after finally addressing the issue of my violation that must've been bothering _him_ for a while.

I gulped.

My turn.

 **DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T YET WATCHED HTTYD RTTE SEASON 3! I was really annoyed at the fact I'd made Dagur a horrible character in this now because I always did really love his character in the show (even though he was bad) and now they've gone and made him good... NOOOOOOOOOOO I love him and I killed him NOOOOOOOO**

 **Okay. Imma kinda tell you guys a story here because it's too funny to keep to myself. I was on skype to my best friend (who happens to be a bisexual guy) while I was writing that scene where Jack held Hiccup's hand *squee* and I didn't want to read it out to him because I was embarrassed so I sent th extract to him and he read it out loud over the chat. Awkwardness aside, twenty minutes passed, and we both decided to go get something to eat before starting an episode of Gravity Falls. And he goes "you go first, I can't actualy stand up right now". MY STORY FLUFF MADE HIM HARD. What?! I was flattered.**

 **Okay, life updates. I got my braces off and I can't stop smiling. I've applied for Plymouth University. I came out as bi to my three closest friends (not my parents yet though (they're homophobic af)). Just realised that apparently I've also just come out to the hundreds of readers I have... Jesus. Hi, I'm bi, nice to meet you *shakes hand*. I got a pay rise at work. I was asked to be a bridesmaid for my aunt's wedding. I bought a new plant and named it Edgar. And I have work experience week starting tomorrow (or is that today? God it's late). And I'm also super excited because I just ordered a super snuggly looking hoddie online that zips right up over the head and it's really long with huge pockets and ermergerd!**

 **Okay, shoutouts...**

 **mini: Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I can't believe you're inspired by me... I've never been an inspiration to anyone before. What an honour...**

 **girlmixi: Jack Frost cosplayer yes! I wish I was brave enough to cosplay casually. People do it at my school. We have this one guy who comes in dressed as a different regeneration of the Doctor every day. Nah, the movie wasn't very fluffy, but there was definitely** ** _something_** **there...**

 **Sion: YOU ARE THE REASON I CANNOT SLEEP AT NIGHT oh my gosh, everytime a review pops up from you, I feel so damn guilty and I feel like I have to write some more or you'll cry and I can't make someone cry or I'll cry and then there'll just be a mess everywhere and I'll have to mop it up and I hate mopping and ermergerd endless cycle of misery. But thanks for keeping up and sticking with me through this hiatus. Everything is fine. Pls don't worry. Like I said, I've applied for Plymouth University but I won't be going til next September so I've got a while to go yet. Yeah, I've been pretty distracted recently by a lot of things but hopefully the updates will be a little more regular (I'm such a dirty liar). Love you xx**

 **Pls continue to read and review 'cos it really helps with motivating me and also, if you're leaving a guest review, add a little name I can recognise you by so I can give you a shoutout. Thanks xx**


	13. Calling Incognito

**Okay, wow, I am on fire for updates! Don't jinx it though aahhh. I'm on work experience atm and that's probably why I've managed to finish this chapter so quickly. I'm in a publishing house but I literally haven't been given anything to do. I've been given a desk, a computer, a phone and a 9 to 5:30 time slot. So I've written a lot. A new chapter in my HiJack oneshot collection will also probably be going up tonight because I started another one today... Anyway, without further ado, enjoy chapter 13 xx**

I suddenly missed the warmth of Jack's hand in mine. I wanted it back. I was cold on my own. Funny how a boy named Frost could light such a fire inside me with a mere touch.

My turn.

I didn't even care anymore. Frostbite or a mystery torture, I couldn't have given less of a shit to be honest. Both choices would only bring me closer to death, which, at this point, seemed inevitably nearer than healthy.

 _No, c'mon Hiccup. Logic is your only trustworthy attribute. Work this out._

Frostbite. On my hand. I could lose my hand… Not that my right hand is ever going to be good for anything anymore… I held up the bloody mess that used to be my hand and examined it. My index finger was completely gone. In fact, there it was, still on the table in front of me.

Urgh.

I wouldn't mind losing this hand, it's already so fucked up. I glanced up to Pitch, who was watching me intently. I could tell he knew what I was thinking. There was no way he'd be kind enough to let me use my already injured arm.

He smiled. Yep, that motherfucker wasn't gonna cut me any slack.

But then there was the envelope.

That evil little piece of white paper in an even more evil little black envelope. If paper could have eyes, it would've been giving me the nastiest look imaginable, and at the same time, it'd be tempting me to open it and discover the secret within that I so desperately wanted to know.

Pitch said… Pitch said the punishments vary from relatively harmless to more severe. What was his definition of harmless though? I doubted it would be the same as my definition, that was for sure. Merida had had to tape a cherry bomb to her hand and light it. Rapunzel had lost an eye. Astrid had avoided the unknown and come down with some pretty major frostbite. But then…

"What was on Astrid's card?" I asked.

Pitch grinned approval at me, "I have no idea." He then turned to Astrid. "Why don't you take a look?"

Astrid grumbled slightly at Pitch's condescending tone but flicked open the envelope with her good hand nonetheless. I watched her eyebrows furrow and frown in confusion at what she saw.

"What's this meant to be?" She groaned, spinning the card around between two fingers (taking extra care to make sure her middle one was on the outside, pointing at Pitch). I couldn't see the card from my angle.

"Oh, ho-ho goodness, close one, Astrid." Pitch chortled. "Nearly got all your teeth extracted…"

Astrid's face… I couldn't even begin to describe the horror and relief crossing her pale, prominent features.

"Jesus." She breathed, and I saw her lips bulge as she ran her tongue across her teeth, clearly thankful they were still there.

"I do hope this information has helped to aid in your choice, Hiccup?"

Three near (if not) deadly cards had already been played. What was the chance that the one if front of me was another murder order? Not reliable enough to stake my life on it. But with the liquid nitrogen, I'd completely lose all function in both my hands. One missing a finger, and the other destroyed by frostbite. I glanced up at Astrid, who was still clutching her arm to her stomach. She'd wrapped it up in a napkin, but her black, shrivelled fingers were still visible protruding from the top. Apparently she saw me looking because she began shaking her head.

 _What?_ My brain was yelling at her but my mouth refused to follow. _Why are you shaking your head? No to the bucket? No to the card? WHAT?!_

Of course, she didn't respond. Neither of us were telepathic, after all.

No, I can't give myself frostbite when I'm already crippled on the other hand. No.

"Screw it, I'll just…" I trailed off as I began fumbling with the envelope. Was I willing to gamble my life on this slip of paper?

"Fuck it, yeah, I'll do the envelope." I ripped it open. The paper slipped out of the bottom and started to flutter to the ground. I went to grab it but Jack got there first. The result of these maneuvers had me snatching my hand away and then smacking my head against the table in my haste to straighten up again. Jack, on the other hand, bent right down under the table and didn't come back up for a few seconds. Had the paper really fallen that far? No, I saw Jack grab it straight away. So what was he-?

 _Oh crap, the phone._

 _He's using my phone!_

Pitch raised an eyebrow. "Everything alright, Jack?" I needed to keep Pitch distracted for long enough so Jack could do something. Make a call, hell, even sending a text to Dad might help.

How could I distract him?

After dismissing the idea of throwing something and creating chaos, I decided to be subtle about it.

"Pitch." I started with just getting the man's attention. He looked at me. _Oh crap, what now? I hadn't thought this far ahead._

"Yes, Hiccup?"

"Uh, you… uh, I mean, are you, no- um, well…" _Jeez Hiccup, wanna be any more slow?_ I glanced down to Jack, trying to disguise my check as an irritated kind of, "c'mon hurry up already" look to throw Pitch off. I saw his fingers frantically scrolling through my phone settings. I watched him turn the phone's GPS signal on. Yes, Jack.

Pitch began walking around the table to where we were and I panicked.

"Hey, wh-what's that?!" I pointed behind his head, and at the same time Pitch turned his head, I nudged Rapunzel on my right and jerked my head down to where Jack was. She spotted him with her good eye and it widened with realization. I saw her eye dart side to side for a second as she was thinking and then something very unexpected happened.

"Oww!" She suddenly howled, clutching both her hands to her face and throwing herself clean off the chair. "My eye! It hurts so much! Help me please!" She was screaming now, and I noticed Jack pop his head out from under the table to see what was happening. I caught his eye and shook my head, pushing him back under the table with my knee.

To make it believable, I jumped off my chair too and knelt next to Rapunzel as she continued to scream hysterically.

"Rapunzel!" I shouted, "Calm down, you're alright." I was suddenly pulled backwards by my shirt collar as Gothel grabbed it and yanked me away from the still crying (very convincingly, might I add) blonde.

Pitch quickly joined Gothel and knelt beside Rapunzel. He held her hand and began to calm her out of her pseudo-fit with soothing words. He was unbelievably gentle and kind towards her and both Astrid and I could only stare as we watched this man, who'd spent all evening torturing us, affectionately silence Rapunzel's screams.

Rapunzel had obviously been faking the whole ordeal with her eye, but apparently falling from her chair and the strenuity of her actions had caused the wound to reopen because the cloth she'd been holding to her eye was soaked again in blood and she was really crying now.

I felt awful. Rapunzel had hurt herself even further because I'd prompted her to create a distraction… So in a way, it felt like I'd directly hurt her. And Now Pitch was the one comforting her. It should've been the other way around.

"Punzie, you okay?" I heard Jack's voice and was shocked when I suddenly turned around, found him an inch from my face and felt his hand push the phone against my leg.

"Sorted." He whispered into my ear and then he disappeared, crouching next to Rapunzel only to be pushed back again by Gothel. "Hey!"

I shoved the phone back into my trouser pocket while my back was turned to them. Astrid saw and we locked eyes for a second. I nodded once and she got it.

Who had Jack called though? I had no idea. And how the hell had he just gotten away with that? I was impressed. Apart from Pitch and Gothel and us, there was only one other guard left in the room. He was still behind Astrid, watching Rapunzel's dilemma with glazed, bored eyes.

It took five minutes to calm Rapunzel down enough for her to take her seat at the table again, and even then, silent tears were running down her cheeks.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered to her shaking form next to me, "I didn't expect you to be that dramatic." She turned to me and laughed. Her smile was contagious and I found myself grinning crookedly too.

Jack took his seat on my other side and finally, the night seemed to be back on track.

Back on the highway to hell.

"Jack, what did Hiccup's card say?" Pitch asked. Jack's face blanched and he held up a finger, ducking under the table again to get it.

If I wasn't being stared at, I'd have facepalmed right there and then. _He forgot to pick up the card…_

"Jack, if you don't mind me asking, if you weren't retrieving the card, what were you doing under the table?"

"I was- uh, tryin' to find it." Jack's voice came up through the table, his finger remaining up in the air as a "nobody move, I'm on it" gesture. "It kinda rolled under the carpet and then Rapunzel screamed and I just forgot- there it is. Hehe."

He reappeared at the table, the card in his hand. He glanced at the picture, then passed it to me.

The illustration showed a bucket, not unlike the liquid nitrogen bucket and a foot suspended above it. A large cursive number three was drawn on the front of the bucket.

"What the heck-?"

Pitch was already swooping behind me and when he saw the card, his face split into a suppressed laugh. "Oh Hiccup, my dear boy, can you guess what that card means?"

I could. A bucket. A three.

"Three minutes in the liquid nitrogen." I whispered to myself.

"Then what's the foot for?" Jack asked, taking the card back from me and examining it.

"I have to hold my foot in the bucket, don't I?" I murmured, barely louder than a whisper, looking across to Pitch.

"That would be correct, Mr Haddock."

 **D'you see what I did there?! Linking it back to the movies and such... Hiccup's gotta freeze his foot. Or does he? Who did Jack call? Is Rapunzel okay? How long til Astrid's arm falls off? Why did this chapter have such a crappy ending? These are all questions I would love to answer but I can't... yet.**

 **Life updates... haven't told the parents yet still, but it'll probably happen in the next few weeks/months/years/** ** _never._** **I've been wearing a super savvy professional-looking trenchcoat for the past few days as part of my work uniform... Feels so awesome secretly cosplaying Castiel every day!**

 **Shoutouts - sorry there aren't many this time but I didn't leave much of a gap since the last chapter so...**

 **mini: Glad my boyfriend's dilemma made you laugh so much. I haven't yet told him I wrote about that. Let's see how funny he thinks it is when he eventually reads the last three chapters... :D I hope you like this chapter and keep up the supportive reviews, babes xx**

 **girlmixi: How do you cosplay Toothless? Sounds amazing anyway! Maybe you could link me a photo of your cosplay, I'd love to see it?! Sorry about your aunt. I lost my nana about a year ago but it gets better. I wear a ring that used to be hers everyday, and it makes me happy to know that there's always a part of her with me wherever I go. Yeah, coming out was difficult but I'm pretty sure my friends were already suspicious. My boyfriend already knew but he's bi too so it was fine. Thanks for sticking with this story and keep up the awesome reviews xx**

 **spnwinchester125: Aww thanks x have you seen the movie? If not, I recommend it highly. It's called Would You Rather and it's on Netflix. Thanks for the review, next update will be as soon as it can be x**

 **As always guys, thanks for reading xx**


	14. One Hundred and Eighty Seconds

**OKAY HI GUYS I'M REALLY PISSED OFF RIGHT NOW BECAUSE I JUST SPENT AAAAAAAGES WRITING OUT A REALLY LENGTHY EXCUSE AS TO WHY THIS WAS SO LATE AND THEN WHEN I UPLOADED IT, IT WAS ALL WEIRDLY FORMATTED AND IT CAME OUT AS A LOAD OF CODE AND I HAD TO DELETE IT SO... sorry I'll stop caps now. But I also had a load of really long, grateful replies to your reviews on that document as well and those are all gone now so FUCK. It wouldn't be so much of an issue if it wasn't 4:33am in England and I wasn't so tired, but it is and I am so I'm sorry that there's no description and the review repkies aren't as good as they could've been but enjoy anyway because I've been writing since 2am.**

...

"Hiccup, could you please follow me over here? I'm sure your fellow players would rather be able to see this." Gothel carried the bucket across the room and placed it carefully on the floor next to the door.

The locked door.

"Wait, are you seriously gonna do this?" Jack gripped my wrist as I rose from my seat.

I stared at him. What else could I do? It was either this, or- my eyes trailed across to the pistol strapped to the nearest guards belt. Jack apparently followed my gaze because I heard him gulp and then squeeze my hand a little tighter.

He opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to change his mind, instead making a small croaking noise and quickly closing it again. I knew he was about to tell me it's gonna be okay or we'll be fine or I'm sorry. I didn't want to hear any of it though, because none of it was true.

"This scene is incredibly touching, gentlemen, but Hiccup, I think you'll be able to endure this better if you don't build up too much anticipation and just get it over and done with faster, wouldn't you agree?" Pitch was now stood behind his chair, holding out his hand towards the bucket. Gothel was taking off the lid, letting the infamous mist pool out and across the floor.

After a tiny glance to each of the girls, who both avoided my eyes, looking solemn, I took a deep breath, pulled my hand out of Jack's, and walked over to Gothel.

As I walked, I did so slowly, deliberately, appreciating every step. These were my last moments having both my functioning legs, and I tried to make the most of the ten seconds it took me to reach the bucket.

"Any preference?" Gothel asked, gesturing to my legs as I stopped next to her.

She was seriously giving me the option here? I looked at her, expecting her to laugh cruelly, as I was sure she would. But her expression was completely serious.

"Hiccup, which leg?" She said again.

Oh crud, she was serious. I considered it. Well, I was right handed so that probably meant I was right footed as well, if that's even a thing… It wasn't like I did sports or anything, so it wouldn't make much of a difference. So, my left leg, I supposed would make more sense?

I looked down, frowning almost apologetically at my left foot.

"Left, I guess." I sighed.

"Right it is then." Pitch clapped his hands, grinning horribly.

"Oh screw you, man!" Jack yelled, "Why even bother asking, bastard?"

"It's fine Jack, honestly, I don't care." I shrugged dramatically, throwing my arms out at the same time. "I mean, it's not like it's gonna make a difference, is it? I'm not getting out of here. I'm not getting out of this room. I know it. I'm gonna die here. We all are, so why even fight it anymore?" I found my voice rising with each word, until I was shouting.

I wasn't even completely coherent as to what I was saying at this point. I'd lost it. I'd lost all hope of making it out alive and to be honest, I didn't care. I think I'd known for longer than I should've that this was the end. I also knew that this attitude was the worst to have in this situation, but again, caring was something I'd completely given up on hours ago.

"Hiccup…"

"No, I don't fucking care!" I screamed back to whoever had spoken. My eyes were wet and my ears pulsing in time to my heartbeat. I kicked off my left shoe and pulled off the sock.

Jack was pleading with me to stop. I ignored him.

Then I rolled up my trouser leg and pinched the skin hard, making it turn red and produce a drop of blood. I wasn't sure why I did it. Maybe it was as a last goodbye to it. That was the last time I'd feel anything there.

"Gimme the goddamn bucket!"

I heard the scraping of metal of wood as Gothel pushed it towards me. Immediately, I stepped into it, plunging my left foot in, until the skin was completely submerged up the the knee in the white fog.

"Hiccup-!" Jack cried.

"Well, this is underwhelming…" I frowned, looking down. "Can't feel anything."

The only sensation I was getting from this was the cold metal of the bottom of the bucket on my bare foot. The mist didn't feel especially cold, or at least not as cold as I was expecting. It was just a little chilly, nothing more.

"You can't feel anything-?" Jack asked, and I looked over at him. "What, like it's numb already or-?" His face was… It was indescribable. I didn't know how to process that look he was fixing me with. Horror, worry and anger had all managed to churn themselves up to create the expression on Jack's gorgeous face.

Wait- did I just say gorgeous?

"N-no-" I finally replied to him, noticing his face falling, "It's just kinda cool, not as bad as I thought it would be." I turned to Pitch, "How long do I need to- ah!"

"Hic?"

"Oh crap, okay…" I breathed, hissing through my teeth, clutching my left thigh with both hands. "Guess I spoke too soon- ah fuck!"

Thousands of tiny blades were being slowly pushed into every inch of skin, but not all at the same time, evening out the pain, oh no. It felt like each tiny knife was entering my leg one at a time, in random unpredictable spots that would create a burst of fire to shoot up my nerves and through my entire leg and hips.

In a word, excruciating.

"Hiccup…" Jack, I spotted from the corner of my eye, had stood up and was being wrestled back into his seat again by a guard. "Hiccup, breathe, you can do this. Just bear through it. You can get through this!"

This time, I looked him directly in the eyes, desperately trying to ignore the dreadful pain channelling through my body. At first, he looked scared. I was already straining to keep my face straight, but it was impossible, and I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks, a horrible juxtaposition to the tundra at my feet.

But finally Jack managed to compose himself long enough to flick his eyes down to my-

I frowned at him, what-?

He was staring at my crotch. No, not my crotch, my pocket! My pocket still containing my phone…

I understood him suddenly.

"Just hang on a bit longer Hiccup, okay?" He repeated, and I realised he wasn't just encouraging me anymore. He was giving me an order.

Help was coming. Whoever Jack had gotten in contact with was coming, so I just had to hang on until then.

"Hiccup, you have one minute and fifty nine seconds remaining." Pitch announced.

"What-?" I gasped.

"Three minutes, don't you remember?" He reminded me.

"Shit."

My foot was completely numb now. If the tiny blades were still attacking me, I wouldn't have been able to tell. I was half grateful for that, but at the same time, I knew what that numbness meant. My eyes trailed up and met Astrid's.

Her arm was still wrapped up in a napkin. Her fingers had turned black. They were dead. And she'd only had to spend sixty seconds under the liquid nitrogen. What was one hundred and eighty seconds capable of doing?

Something suddenly smacked into my back. I jolted around to realise I was now sat down. A chair had been pushed up behind me and without noticing, I'd collapsed into it as my left leg completely buckled.

As the angle of my leg changed, a new section of skin became submerged as another resurfaced. I cried out as the new flesh went through the same torture as before.

"Oh good grief Hiccup, that looks impressive!" Pitch's voice right next to me startled me into nearly punching his face in, but I refrained, curious to see what he was referring to.

My leg, apparently.

The skin that had been brought out of the mist was now under a burning sensation with the heat of the air and it was purple. Purple, veiny and dead.

"Fucking hell…" I shuddered, reaching out to touch it, but pulling back just short.

"One minute and six seconds left." Pitch squeezed my shoulder gently. I snapped it away from his reach.

"C'mon Hic, you're doing great." Jack said, but his voice sounded distant. He was only a few feet away, but it felt like he was a mile away. I wanted so desperately to be holding his hand again, or to at least be able to see him again. The chair had been placed at an awkward angle, so I'd have to turn right around just to look at him.

I didn't have the strength or freedom to do that. So I closed my eyes and just listened to his voice. Despite being laced with fear and worry, everything he said was comforting and made me feel safe.

I tried to count the seconds down, but closing my eyes had been a stupid idea, because I was immediately being shaken violently into consciousness again by Pitch.

"Don't fall asleep on us, Hiccup, if you don't mind." He laughed. "Only twenty seconds left anyway…"

I watched him as he counted down on his watch, mouthing each number deliberately overenounciating each syllable.

Three… Two… One… "Okay, Gothel, let's get him out of there. That, my boy, was pretty impressive on your part. I was sure you'd pass out or at least feel faint after that."

Who said I didn't?

I tried to lift out my leg, but failed epically. It didn't even feel like my own leg anymore. It was just a heavy block tied onto my knee.

"Oh god, I can't-"

I was cut off as Gothel gently lifted my calf out and slid the bucket away with her foot. Heat erupted and it suddenly felt like I was getting an extreme all-day baking sunburn in the space of one second. I stifled a scream as my foot was placed onto the cold floor, not that I could feel how cold it was anyway…

I still hadn't looked. I didn't want to. The horrified gasps from everyone else were description enough. I tried to move my toes. Nope… I tried to raise my leg. Still nothing…

Oh jeez, I still had a leg there, right? What if it had already fallen off and was just sitting there in the bucket, disintegrating into nothing?

Only one way to find out.

I blew out the breath I was holding and cracked open one eye.

This time, I screamed out loud.

...

 **Okay, life updates... I still haven't told the parents, my Eren cosplay wig finally arrived and I've been wearing it around the house all day freaking out the neighbours, I got back into my photograpy hobby and uh, I'm really tired so that'll do for now...**

 **Shoutouts!**

 **Like I said before, these are short and shit, but I'm battling with my eyelids and losing so forgive me.**

 **JakeTheStoryTeller: Thank you so much for this review, even though it was posted god knows how long ago... Your support has really helped and I love all your stories too so thank you xx**

 **Sion: SORRY SORRY SORRY for not updating! Here ya go pls enjoy! And life is going good for me, thanks for asking xx**

 **Snowflakesandangels: Ahhh don't send me to prison for manslaughter! I'm not meaning to give anyone a heart attack... And crikey, thanks for your support! It really made my day when I read that review so thank you xx**

 **Crystal Draculura Bloosucker: What an epic username, first off! And secondly, you've seen the movie? Did you like the ending? Should I do the same in this one or avoid making this one a tragedy like that?!**

 **spnwinchester125: Sorry I hate to leave a fellow Winchester in the dark like this, but here ya go pls enjoy xx And thanks for your support xx**

 **...**

 **Okay... There! Now I can get some sleep! I wanna know what you think though! Who was Jack in contact with? Will they get there in time to save the day? Leave your ideas in a review xx**

 **Thanks - AvaniAcrux**


	15. Tattoo

**Right. So this wait has been ridiculous and I'm gonna apologise in advance because I'm a twat for being so crap at updates... I've just got a hell of a lot going on in my life at the moment and fanfiction writing has kind of been pushed to the end of my to-do list. I promise I'm not giving up on this story though! Here ya go. Enjoy x**

...

A small part of me actually thought it'd be pretty funny to look down and see my leg on the floor, no longer attached, but then the logical part of my brain kicked in and the idea that I might've actually been about to see that freaked me out.

And so as my eyes slowly trailed down, the immense silence pressing in from all sides forced my mind to cartwheel.

 _What if I lost my leg?_

I definitely hadn't thought any of this through.

 _I couldn't lose my leg._

So as my view continued to spiral downwards, and a thick sea of red began to fill it, I panicked.

I couldn't see. Suddenly, I couldn't see anything. One second, I'd been looking at- _oh god… What even was that I'd seen?_ My face was pressed into something soft and it took me a moment to realise a strong pair of arms around me.

I lifted my head out of the cocoon of warmth to see Jack's snowy head right next to mine. He'd leapt forward and hugged me. Not that I had any objection to that.

"Jack?" I moved, placing my hands on his shoulders to lift him away. I cringed when my bloody fingers smeared onto his white shirt.

"Y-you alright?" Jack's voice was even shakier than mine and he refused to let me go.

"My leg's gone, isn't it?" The flat tone of my own voice surprised me. Jack didn't reply, but I felt his arms tighten around my shoulders.

"Oh Hiccup…" Rapunzel's cry reached my ears.

Well, that confirmed it.

"Jack, let me see it." I said.

"But-"

"Jack, let go." I repeated. I didn't care about anything but seeing my leg. I wanted to see what that bastard Pitch had done to me. And as soon as I'd done that, I was going to strangle him. I pushed Jack away from me, a bit harder than I'd meant to, and finally looked at the damage.

A foot was still there, still attached, I mean… But that was no longer a working leg. Every inch of skin was black, shrivelled and coated in a thick layer of frosted oozing blood. The point where the dead flesh met bright pink was the most painful area. There was a fading line all the way around my knee, joining the two now completely separate appendages.

I tried to wiggle my toes. Nothing. I tried to move my whole leg off the floor, but it was so heavy. An intense feeling of pins and needles was beginning to spread up my leg and across my hip.

"Well well, Hiccup." Pitch's sadistically soothing voice grated into my head like a knife. "I would love to offer you some help with your little predicament there, but I feel like it would only be fair if I made you wait until your next turn. I'm sure Jack is simply ecstatic to make his choice, after all."

"What d'you mean, help-?" I glared at him, keeping my head angled down. I wasn't going to let him see my face, the tears staining my cheeks.

"Oh Hiccup, an injury like yours must be treated immediately to avoid further infection and possible after-effects of blood disease. In fact, with the rate you're bleeding at the moment, I'd say blood-loss is your biggest worry right now." He smiled. "But, as I said, it's only sporting of me to allow Jack to take his turn, and then attend to your needs after that, am I right?"

"Treated…?" I was mumbling to myself now, unsure of anything. How the hell was this supposed to be treated? And anyway, I wasn't bleeding that badly, was I? A quick glance down again soon answered that question. A lake of dark red was pooling around my foot spreading steadily out across the floor.

"What do you mean by 'treat'?" Astrid asked Pitch. "How could you possibly do anything to fix that?"

I was glad she asked that, but at the same time, utterly terrified of the pending answer. Deep down I knew what he was going to say. I already knew where this was going. Denial was my only hope now.

"Miss Hofferson, I'm sure you're fully aware of the only treatment I have in store. But-" He clapped his hands, "As I've said, we'll deal with that later. Because now it's Jack's turn."

"Crap." Jack hissed, and I was startled by how close he still was to me. I turned to look at him, out shoulders brushing. His black eye had come up horribly, purple and yellow, and almost ruining his immaculately perfect face.

"Jack, the known, one minute with an arm in the bucket? Or the unknown, on your card?"

I watched as Jack switched his gaze from Pitch to the card and then across to me. He caught my eye and his hard expression immediately broke, something unreadable in his eyes. We held each other's stare for a few seconds before his eyes drifted down to my leg and his face stiffened again.

"I'll take the card." He snapped, whipping his head back to the card and ripping it open so fast, I hadn't registered what had happened until he was holding up the paper to Pitch. "The hell does this mean?"

"Oh my, how very boring…" Pitch sighed.

"What is it?" Jack demanded.

Pitch snatched the card out of Jack's hand and held it up so Jack could see the picture on it. "See this illustration? You'll have this branded onto your body."

"Branded?" I repeated. " What? Like burned?" I'd only ever seen brands on people in documentaries where thieves are branded with a symbol so people know to be wary of them. A red hot metal metal stick is pressed against the skin until it creates a lasting burn that scars over and never heals properly.

"Yes, and this is quite fitting actually. Now that I think about it. Jack Frost burned and Dragon Boy frozen… How symbolic."

"Dragon Boy?" I questioned.

"Hiccup, did you really think I'd bring you into my house without conducting a proper background investigation first? How am I supposed to know if you're an assassin or something without appropriate precautions. I've been watching you all for months. Your poor pitiful lives, so sad and desperate, so in need of my charity." He paused. "And Hiccup, Dragon Boy? I'm sure you can figure out where that pet-name originated."

It was true that I loved everything about dragons. When I wasn't doing schoolwork, I'd be doodling dragons in notebooks and in the corners of my workbooks. Most of the time, those corner dragons refused to stay in their corners though, and eventually took up the entire page anyway.

How long and how intently had Pitch been watching him?

"You're branding me with that?" Jack's voice brought me back to the table. I looked at the card too, examining the picture.

It was a strangely intricate design, with lots of swirly lines but clearly defined in the middle was a capital letter B.

B for Black? As in Pitch Black? What the hell was wrong with this guy? He was about to brand Jack with him initial, almost like a medieval master marking a slave. Was this Pitch's way of owning Jack?

Whatever it was, it was fucked up.

"Get it over with then." Jack sighed, standing up.

"Jack, wh-"

"I've gotta just do it so he can sort your leg out, alright? If we wait any longer, it's gonna get infected." Jack explained in a low voice. "Please just hang on and don't do anything dumb. It's only a burn anyway. I'll be fine." He added, seeing my terrified face.

"Right…" My voice sounded weak and unconvincing, even to my own ears, and all I could do was watch as he walked around the table to where Gothel was waiting, holding a short metal stick and another bucket. This one seemed to be glowing orange.

"Jack, I think I'd like the brand to be on your back, so could you please remove your shirt and lie down across these chairs for me?" Pitch guided Jack over to a few chairs that were pushed together and helped him strip off his shirt and tie and lie down on his front. "Lovely. Now, I think it's necessary to let you know that the way you'll be receiving the brand will be slightly different to what you may be expecting."

"What d'you mean-?" Jack's voice was slightly muffled against the pillow his chin was resting on.

"Gothel will be applying the brand using this 'flame pen' as I call it. I find that drawing the design makes it look a lot nicer than stamping it on. Unfortunately it'll take longer to do and it will feel more like a tattoo, except a lot more painful and it won't look as great at the end. I wouldn't be worried though. I mean, clearly you don't mind the pain of tattoos." Pitch let out a long breath, and for a moment, I wondered why.

And then I saw Jack's back. From his left shoulder stretching across to his lower right back, an incredible tattoo covered his skin. It was made up of beautiful geometric designs and looked fantastic against his pale complexion. I also saw that the tattoo continued down along both his arms and hands and I wondered why I hadn't noticed it before.

"I never would've taken you for a tattoo kind of man, Jack." Pitch mused, running his fingers along the ink lining the nape of Jack's neck. I saw Jack shudder but he said nothing, clearly wanting to just get it over with and not cause any more delay.

"How long have you had these tattoos, Jack?" Pitch asked.

"Can you just get on with it." He snapped back.

"Alright alright, not one for smalltalk. Gothel, go ahead."

Gothel dipped the sharper end of the small metal stick into the glowing bucket and held it there for a few seconds before pulling it out again. It was white hot. She then leant over Jack and went to begin drawing.

"Wait, don't you need a template or something?!" Astrid said, sounding frantic.

"I'm a good freehand drawer, thank you very much." Gothel replied and not even a second later, white hot metal met skin and the sound of Jack's muffled scream filled the room. His face scrunched up into the cushion and I could see the muscles in his arms and shoulders tensing and loosening rapidly as Gothel continued to scrape the stick across his back.

The whole process took about thirty minutes and Jack's face didn't relax once in that entire time. It had been particularly bad when Gothel had been filling in a section. Every move of the stick caused Jack to jerk slightly in the chairs and groan.

"All done Mr Frost." Gothel said, in a way too friendly voice that I hated.

"Well then, let's have a look at it." Pitch grabbed Jack harshly by the shoulder and forced him around so he was sitting rather that laying. Jack hissed in pain as the burn rubbed across the back of the chair. "Marvelous."

I watched as Jack tried to stand up to walk back over, but he fell back into the chair twice before he gave up and shook his head, leaning forwards, hands over his face. "G-gimme a minute… You carry on. I'll be over in a sec… ugh." He looked like he was desperately trying not to throw up.

"Okay then. I'll allow that." Pitch sounded irritated. "Now, I do believe it should be Astrid's turn. Am I correct?"

"You said you'd help Hiccup!" She glared at him.

"Oh, I know. And this is how we're going to do it." Pitch grinned, then crossed around the table to me and rested his hands on my shoulders. I tried to shrug him off but he had me in an iron grip. "Astrid, would you rather put poor Hiccup out of his pain and amputate his frostbitten leg?"

Pitch then placed a box in front of her and she opened it. A slim, black pistol sat on a velvet cloth.

"Or put him out of his misery right away with a bullet to the head?"

...

 **Oh god... I'm so mean!**

 **It's really late at the moment in England and I need to get my UCAS application sorted out before I go to sleep so no life updates this time (not that many of you care anyway) but I'll give you a better author note next time. Promise x**

 **Shoutouts - Didn't get many reviews this time so not many :'(**

 **Guest: Thank you for the review. Hope you enjoy this chapter then x**

 **girlmixi: Haha I'm tempted, but my neighbourhood already think I'm insane... I did wear it to go to the library the other day and nobody seemed to notice though... I might make it a regular thing to just cosplay Eren everywhere. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for your review xx**

 **Koolkat: It seems like you went through an awful lot of emotions reading this... and I'm sorry! I deserve to be screwed, I know... I'm so evil but I know you all love it or you wouldn't be reading the story. Haha x Thanks for your reviews though. It made me smile getting three reviews from the same person in the space of an hour :)**

 **HOPE YOU ENJOYED AND DON'T HATE ME TOO MUCH FOR THE HIATUS! Pls leave a review if you liked it because I'm not even kidding when I say** **reviews are literally my only motivation to write more...** **Even if it's been a few days since you've had updates from anyone and you want something to read, send a review telling me to get writing and I promise you, it'll speed up the chapter release. Thanks for reading, Avani x**


	16. Operation

**Okay, I'm not sure how long it's been since the last update but I feel like it hasn't been too long so I'm happy. Unfortunately this is a kinda short chapter. Purely because I wanted to get this chapter up since I reached a point where it seemed appropriate to stop and I kinda want to sleep too since I've had the worst day of my life ever today (I'll explain later if you want to know more...) Anyways enjoy x**

...

"Astrid, would you rather put poor Hiccup out of his pain and amputate his frostbitten leg?"

Pitch then placed a box in front of her and she opened it. A slim, black pistol sat on a velvet cloth.

"Or put him out of his misery right away with a bullet to the head?"

I could actually see the breath in Astrid's throat hitch sharply as her mouth dropped open. "W-what-?" She stammered.

"Goodness, you're actually hesitating?" Pitch laughed, twirling on the spot and clapping his hands like a sea-lion. "Wasn't it only an hour or so ago that you said yourself that the aim of this game is to eliminate the other players?" Astrid gulped. "So, why are you even thinking about it, hmm? I'm giving you the best opportunity this game will ever throw at you. Are you going to miss it? Really?"

"I-I'm not gonna just shoot him, that's-"

"You stabbed him without a care earlier. You may as well have killed him already for the amount of blood he's lost from that wound." Pitch snarled, shooting me a quick glance. I looked down and for the first time, saw that there actually was a fair bit of dried blood soaking through my shirt.

I looked up and caught Astrid's eye. I tried to tell her with my eyes that I didn't care what she did. I'd pretty much accepted the fact that I wasn't getting out of here by now. It was now just a matter of how much more crap Pitch was going to put me through before he finally finished me off, and I just wanted it to be over as quickly as it could be.

Astrid's bright blue eyes were dancing in their sockets, darting between Pitch, the gun, me and my mutilated leg. I knew what she was thinking. And to be honest, I wanted her to kill me. I'd have preferred it anyway.

I did not want to lose my leg.

"Okay… I choose to amputate Hiccup's leg." Astrid finally announced, and a breath I hadn't noticed was trapped in my lungs suddenly all expelled in one go.

"Interesting choice, but who am I to interfere?" Pitch sounded slightly disappointed, but there was a strange note of amusement mingling in with his words too, like he knew that's what she was going to choose from the start. "Right, Jack, move back to the table. We're going to need the chairs for this."

I turned around. I'd almost forgotten about Jack sitting on the chairs, hanging his head and silently listening to us. The brand on his back was red and bleeding badly, the design barely visible under the caked brown blood that had dried around the burns.

"Hmm?" He croaked, lifting his head slightly.

"Hiccup is about to undergo a bit of rather traumatic surgery, so we're going to need you to move so he can lay across those chairs." Pitch was trying to keep his voice flat, but every syllable shook with a strange suppressed anger, like he was on the verge of- something.

 _Traumatic surgery._ The words chased themselves around my brain. Jesus, it was going to happen right here, right now? In front of everyone? I could only pray to any gods that might've been listening that Pitch would be kind enough to at least numb my leg first. But then again, it was already pretty numb from the frostbite.

"Hiccup?" I snapped back from my thoughts suddenly. Pitch was staring at me. I also noticed Jack laying sprawled on the floor next to him, clutching his stomach and coughing.

"Jack, are you alright-?" I found myself asking a pretty stupid question to the trembling figure on the ground. Jack only nodded his head in reply.

"Astrid, could you assist Hiccup in getting onto the chairs?" Pitch grinned. Astrid stood and slowly walked around the back of my chair, gently pulling it away from the table so I could swing around and stand up. In hindsight, I definitely shouldn't have tried to stand up without help.

My face hit the edge of the table so hard I saw stars. I blacked out for a moment, but whether it was because of my head or the sudden eruption of pain shooting up my leg, I wasn't sure.

"Hiccup, oh jeez. C'mon, stand up." Astrid's voice was panicked as I felt her arms lift me from the floor with a surprising strength. I winced through gritted teeth when my leg brushed against the table leg. "Sorry, here. Lean on me." Astrid hauled my arm over her shoulders and practically dragged me over to the chairs. Once I was sat on one of them, I finally looked up at her.

Her firm expression cracked as soon as our eyes met.

"H-how am I gonna do this then?" She asked, turning to Pitch as I made myself as comfortable as I could lying down across the chairs.

"Gothel." I heard Pitch snap his fingers and a second later, she'd appeared at Astrid's side carrying what looked horrifyingly like a huge metal saw.

"The fuck is that-?" I couldn't ignore it. I sat bolt upright and stared at the giant shiny contraption in terror.

"This is the quickest and most hygienic way of going about this procedure, Hiccup. Please calm down." Pitch cooed, but his hands gripped my shoulders tight and pushed me back down onto my back. "Gothel, you sterilised that right?"

"Yeah, I mean, I ran it under the tap for a couple seconds…"

"Perfect. See Hiccup? Nothing to worry about. Now relax." His fingers curled and pressed painfully into my shoulders and I tried to wriggle free, but failed. "Astrid, begin whenever you're ready."

"W-wait, no anaesthetic? Or like anything to numb his leg?" Astrid cried, but I saw out of the corner of my eye she had the saw planted in her shaking hands. "He'll lose too much blood if I just do it."

"Well, that is a risk you chose to accept when you made the decision to amputate Hiccup's leg, isn't it?" Pitch chuckled darkly and the pressure being applied to my shoulders increased tenfold as Astrid approached me. Pitch also grabbed my hands and held them tightly above my head.

"Oh god Hiccup, I'm so so sorry."

That was the last thing I heard before I experienced the most excruciating pain I'd ever feel in my entire existence. It wasn't even three seconds before the world faded out into white and then black.

...

 **There we are guys, I don't think I've ended a single chapter of this story without leaving you on a cliffhanger. Sorry!**

 **Okay... life updates. Here we go. I'm gonna vent now. Any followers of this story since the beginning will probably be aware that for the first six or seven chapters, I was writing this to procrastinate from revising for my AS level exams. I now realise this was a massive mistake since today was results day in England, and I managed to fail two of my four AS levels. This means that not only will I not be able to return to my current sixth form for my second year, but I also won't be able to go to university next September, like I'd been planning to do. Now, I have two weeks to find another college that will accept me and start my A levels all over again. This time, I'm going to take english language, english literature, media studies and psychology. One of the colleges I've looked into does a creative writing course which sounds amazing but I'm not sure if I'll go for it or not...**

 **So yeah, my entire life has managed to be completely shattered by a slip of paper in an envelope and I've drained a weeks worth of tears from my eyes, but my uncle who is a teacher has been really supportive and he took me out for a coffee and went over my options with me, so for that I'm grateful.**

 **Shoutouts:**

 **pikianoa: Astrid's a goodie, don't worry, but amputation has gotta hurt, so was her choice really the nicest thing she could've done?**

 **spnwinchester125: Why thank you... I'm glad you like it. Sorry this chapter was short and crappy but I hope you enjoyed it anyway x**

 **Sion: Yeah I always kinda thought that if Jack was to be a normal guy in modern day, he'd be sort of classy punk. Also, I love tattoos and I'm hoping to get one in January so I'm sort of venting through Jack's style here. And I'm going to try to have at least chapter that doesn't end on such a horrid cliffhanger, I promise... ;)**

 **Snowflakesandangels: I came up with the idea for Jack's tattoo completely on the spot, but I do like geometric designs and full back designs that branch off onto different parts of the body so I included that.**

 **girlmixi: Since I'm starting a brand new college in a few weeks (and I won't know anyone there...) I might actually try to get away with wearing the wig there for a few days. My friend says there's a guy who goes to her college who cosplays Doctor Who every day so it wouldn't be that weird, right? Also, thanks for the review xx**

 **THANKS FOR READING GUYS. NEXT UPDATE MIGHT TAKE A WHILE SINCE I NEED TO GET MY LIFE BACK ON TRACK BUT THIS STORY ISN'T OVER YET! Pls leave a review if you want more xx**


	17. Nightmare

**Alrighty, I'm back again. And pretty punctual, might I add! Exactly a week since my last update (I think... give or take a day). Anyways, I've got a lot to say so keep tuned at the end for my college story. Enjoy xx**

...

Darkness.

All around me was nothingness, just empty black space. At first, I wondered where I could be, but then I realised I didn't care. Because one thing I knew for sure… I was as good as dead anyway. I couldn't quite remember why or how I was so sure of this, but the memory of something terrible happening to me still tainted my mind.

I couldn't feel anything. Not the temperature of the air or even the floor. Was there even a floor beneath me at all? I went to crouch down and check, but the slightest movement made my head spin and I straightened up again. My ears popped.

"Hello?" I called into the surrounding abyss. I wasn't sure if I wanted to hear a reply or not.

"Hiccup-?" An all too familiar voice sounded back.

"Dad…"

"Hiccup, where did you go?"

"I'm here." _Wherever here is…_ "Where are you? Dad?"

"Son… I'm so sorry."

Wait, what? I froze. Dad's voice was shaking. Trembling, and I could tell he was on the verge of tears. But why would he-?

"Dad, I'm right here!" I shouted, determined to be heard. "What's wrong?"

There was a long silence and as I listened, I thought I could hear the sound of my Dad sobbing. Why was he crying? Was he having another attack? Oh god, I needed to find him and help him before it was too late!

"Dad!" I yelled. "Where are you? Are you okay? I'm coming!"

"I'm so so sorry…" Dad was full on crying now, every syllable a strained croaky noise rather than the usual strong, confident voice Hiccup was so used to.

"Dad-?" I was windmilling my arms, trying desperately to find a wall or a door or some way to get to Dad and out of this eternal darkness.

"I should've been here. I should have-" His voice completely failed him at this point. "I'm a terrible father…"

And suddenly, I saw a thin vertical strip of light appear a few feet ahead of me, growing two horizontal lines from the top and bottom. A door opening…

I ran towards it and yanked it open as fast as I could.

The door opened onto a very familiar scene. My living room. My own house. My senses all rushed back to me at once. I could suddenly feel the soft carpet, smell the welcoming scent of firewood and cinnamon and hear…

Oh god, I wished I couldn't hear that sound. My Dad's sobs chilled me right to the core and I followed the noise through the living room until I reached the foot of the stairs.

"Dad?" I called. But he didn't seem to hear me, because the crying continued just as loudly. I raced up the stairs two at a time and quickly found the source. My room. I pushed open the door slowly to find my Dad with his face buried into my duvet, bawling uncontrollably into it.

One quick glance at the bed and I knew why.

Lying there, completely motionless on the mattress, was a bloody, bruised Hiccup with a missing leg and slit throat.

I gasped out loud and covered my mouth with my hands. _What the hell happened to him? I mean, to me-?_

"Dad, th-that's not me. I- I'm right behind you…" I approached the back of my Dad's quivering shoulders and reached down to tap him, but quickly withdrew. "Dad?"

"This is all my fault… Oh Hiccup, please forgive me. I was supposed to look out for you and I let this happen. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry." And he broke down into a mad fit of tears again shaking violently.

It was pretty clear by now that he couldn't see me, or hear me.

I approached the Hiccup on the bed and looked at him. Man, if this was a dream, the sandman had got every detail perfect. The fake Hiccup's face was accurate, down to the last freckle and even the scar on his chin.

I leaned closer still, trying to identify if he was breathing. His chest wasn't moving. I rested a hand on his chest, feeling for a heartbeat.

Nothing.

I held my hand there, firmly pushing down for as long as I dared.

Apparently, I dared for a few seconds too long.

The imposter Hiccup's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed my wrist tightly, crushing it between his bloody, broken fingers. I yanked up, trying to escape, but I couldn't. My eyes snapped back to his face, just in time to see his eyes open and stare at me. They were pure white with no pupils.

His face suddenly split into a menacing grin that was impossibly big and incredibly terrifying.

"You lost the game…" It snarled in a voice that definitely wasn't my own.

I wanted to scream but found my lungs blocked. I spun around to face my Dad, but he was gone. Standing in his place was a tall figure in a full black suit with grey skin and gleaming yellow eyes.

Before I could register what was happening, he lunged forward and spread his cloak wide open, filling the entire room with the same dark nothingness as before.

Only this time, I could feel. I could feel pain, and as I screamed, I heard a voice cackling all around me, inside my head. Filling me to the brim with an unexplainable feeling.

Despair?

No, that wasn't it… Something ten times worse.

Something so atrocious that there wasn't even a word for it. I was sure no one else had ever felt as much pain and suffering as I did in that moment. So, on the brink of the end, I couldn't even recognise how I felt. As I was completely consumed by pitch black.

Pitch Black…

…

"Hiccup?!"

Oh god, not again…

"Hiccup! Wake up!"

No, I couldn't face the darkness again…

"C'mon man, don't you dare die on us!"

I wasn't dead? Wait, if I wasn't dead, then had any of that been real? I fought against the wave of nausea threatening to take over my brain and managed to lift my heavy eyelids, but sight wasn't coming back to me straight away.

"That's it buddy, c'mon, you're alright now…"

That voice… It was beautiful. It was the best sound I think I'd ever heard. After everything I'd just been through, hell, I was pretty sure anything would've sounded spectacular.

Warmth, running up my back. A pair of hands were holding me, and judging by the crushing feeling on my chest, those hands belonged to a person, and that person was hugging me tightly.

"D-Dad…?" I stammered, pressing into the body holding mine.

"Hiccup, it's okay. It's okay. None of anything you just saw was real, okay? None of it was real. It was just a bad dream."

"Jack-?" I knew the voice now. "W-what do you mean-?"

"Easy, it's-" Jack's voice faltered and at the same time, I found myself rolling over sideways and vomiting onto the floor. The nausea had hit me full on, in a tsunami rather than a calm wave.

"Hiccup, I'm so sorry." There was another voice. Rapunzel?

"It's not your fault." Jack said, and I figured he was talking to her rather than to me. His hand rubbed my back soothingly as I panted, still lying with my cheek against the chair I was apparently lying on.

After a few moments, I sat up, feeling somewhat coherent.

"Hic?"

"Jack, what happened?" I spoke, still not really being able to see more than blurry outlines of my surroundings. Jack, right in front of me, was a blob of white, grey and blue in a sea of dark brown and black.

"Rapunzel just took her turn, and she had to choose between giving you this weird drug to make you hallucinate, or take it herself. We all thought it wouldn't be as bad for you since you were asleep… Whatever you just saw wasn't real. It was all fake. A bad dream, okay?"

"Okay…" I looked at the floor, a reddish-brown blur. "None of it-?"

"None of it was real, Hic." I felt myself being pulled into another tight hug by Jack. So that had all been a hallucination, a dream, a nightmare… But how much of it?

"M-my leg?" I mumbled, pushing Jack away and attempting to reach down to check it's condition. He caught my wrist halfway.

"Hic…" His voice was strained and sad. "That part wasn't a dream."

...

 **Man, I hate the way I ended that... I'll probably come back and edit it soon. I just really wanted to get this chapter up and out today since I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning and then I'll be working pretty much everyday until college starts.**

 **And yes, I said COLLEGE. I have officially registered and been accepted to attend a college in my local area (well, like an hour bus ride away...) and I have my student interview first thing tomorrow morning! The subjects I've chosen are English literature (since I took english language last year and don't want to do the whole first year again...), Media studies, Photography (Thanks to my Life is Strange addiction) and Law (bit of a wild card, but I always used to fancy going into law but gave up because my sixth form school didn't offer it as an A level.**

 **So anyway, Thank you so so so so so much for all your support and advice in your reviews last time. I was at an all time low point in my life since my Dad has basically disowned me at this point... But thank you again for encouraging me to get back up on my feet and start again. Your reviews warmed my heart and were really the only thing I had to cheer me up...**

 **Thank you again! (What is that, like four thank you's now?)**

 **Shoutouts:**

 **spnwinchester125: Glad you enjoyed it! I know this chapter wasn't spectacular for real-time events, but I felt like just crushing a few hearts while I was feeling down so here ya go. Creative writing was only an offered course at one of my three college choices and it happened to be at the one that was the furthest commute distance and also the college has the worst reputation ever... Thanks for your support and I hope you know how much your review helped me xxx**

 **DragonWriter37: It does seem that everything is going to turn out okay, as long as the interview goes well. Thanks so much for your review and I'm glad to hear you like my writing, and the story xx**

 **girlmixi: Wow, this wig joke is gonna just keep on going forever, isn't it? I think the best thing about going to a whole new college is that I won't know anyone there (well, maybe like three or four other people in my situation but that's it) so I can totally just wear a wig whenever I want. Also, my best friend also goes to the college and she said there are tons of people who cosplay to school everyday... I can imagine how funny it would be if I were to just randomly go to the bathroom during a lesson, put the wig on, and then come back in like nothing had happened. Since I have hip length Merida curly hair anyway, it would shock some people, I reckon... Thanks for the review, I love hearing from you xx**

 **Snowflakesandangels: I'm sure you probabaly already saw my ridiculously snivelly thank you reply on my other story regarding your review here, so I won't go on about that again, but thank you xxx I feel like this 'wasted' year has really helped me realise where I want to be and what career path I really want to follow. I can't believe there was a point last year when I wanted to be a physiotherapist. I mean, that's just not me at all. Art, English and Media is definitely my thing and I'm going to try everything I can x**

 **Sion: I felt so stupid when I first read your review because I didn't put it into context. You're talking about tattoos, right? Because when I checked the email and read your review, I was just like uuhhhhhhh, wtf? Covered in what now-? So you have tattoo(s)? That's so cool. What do you have and where, if you don't mind the creepy question...?**

 **Okay, again, sorry for the shortness of this chapter but I couldn't leavve you guys hanging after all the lovely reviews you left me xx Until next time...**


	18. Jack?

***peeks around corner* is it safe to come out? I've been gone a while, haven't I? I'm very sorry! But anyone who's been following my life updates will know why... New college, failing at life etc etc etc. Anyway, I shall leave all that boring stuff til the end for people who actually care to read. Everyone else, enjoy the chapter x**

...

"Hic… That part wasn't a dream." My eyes trailed down and quickly widened in horror at what I saw. First of all, I hadn't been moved from the 'operating table' so the floor was swamped in dark red blood that was still slowly spreading out in all directions. Then I saw my leg.

Or at least, what was left of it. At the point where calf should've met knee, there was a thick, blood stained bandage wrapped tightly over a round, uneven stump.

"Oh…" Was all I could make myself say after a painfully long silence. Honestly, I couldn't think of anything else to say in that moment. My leg was gone. And that was that.

 _Deal with it._ A nasty voice in the back of my mind snarled. I shut my eyes, trying to keep back the hot tears that were pooling beneath my eyelids. Unfortunately, I found myself having no control over my trembling lips, and eventually, a small sob burst through. Once again, I was enveloped by Jack's arms holding me tight.

"S-sorry-" I hiccuped, pressing my face into Jack's neck and allowing my tears to trickle down his bare chest. His bare chest-? I quickly jerked back, trying to pull away from him, realising how weird it was that Jack was still shirtless, but he wouldn't let go.

I felt something rest atop my head as his thick scent of cologne mixed with blood reached my nose again. I realised it was Jack's chin a second before it moved and I missed the touch immediately. Only for a moment though, because suddenly his arms wrapped tighter and his head flopped down onto my shoulder. Or at least, I thought it was his head… Honestly, my brain had stopped functioning from the second I saw that mess of a limb horrifically still attached to me.

"Hiccup?" There was a different voice. Not Jack's. "Hiccup, are you alright?"

I lazily looked up, Jack's silky hair brushing against my own as I moved. Rapunzel and Astrid were still sat opposite, both staring wide eyed at Jack and I. I did a strange kind of half-nod, not really confident in the answer myself.

"Am I s'posed to not be able to feel anything-?" I asked, not really directing the question at anyone in particular.

Jack's head shot up instantly. His expression quickly switched to a serious look that weirdly suited his hard features.

"You can't feel your leg at all?" He asked, reaching down to gently prod my thigh. "Where does the feeling stop?"

I couldn't answer straight away. From this angle, with Jack kneeling in front of me, I could see the numerous tattoos covering his shoulders. They were beautiful and I wanted nothing more than to touch his perfect, intricate skin, to trace my finger over every line and to feel his hands around me again.

"Hic, you've gotta help me out here…" Jack's hand found its way to my shoulder and I snapped my thoughts back to what he was asking me. "You can hear me, right?" A few snaps in front of my face and a nod answered his question for him and he continued. "Tell me where the feeling stops."

I looked down slowly and had a go at flexing my muscles in that leg. A bolt of pain shot up my nerves and I hissed loudly, clenching my hands over the leg. Another pair of hands closed over mine.

"Just breathe Hic, breathe…" Jack was saying. "It's a good thing that you can feel something there. Might not seem like it, but right now, that pain means your leg is still working properly."

I looked up to see Jack leaning forward on the balls of his feet, hands still grasping onto mine, his eyes also locked onto mine. And somehow, I knew I could trust him on this. Training doctor and all that aside, I trusted him as a friend, and those eyes weren't those of a liar.

"Not that this scene isn't wonderfully touching…" A voice, that I wished wasn't so familiar by now, drawled. "But Hiccup, it seems like your turn has rolled around again. Doesn't time fly when you're having fun?"

I glared at Pitch. No, I stared daggers at the sick fucker, ignoring how intimidating his own yellowish eyes were, boring back into mine.

"Are you ready to take your turn, Hiccup?" He asked, not faltering his sickeningly calm smile at all.

"S'pose." I grumbled at him, and turned my body slowly back into the table, letting Jack slide away from me too.

Again, I missed his touch.

"Hiccup, since you put on such a wonderful show with my nightmare sand, I'd like to use it again." Pitch held up a small bottle of a black powder floating in clear liquid and twirled it between his fingers. Then he smirked slyly at Jack and continued. "Hiccup, would you rather receive another double dose of the nightmare sand yourself or have Jack subjected to a single dose?"

Not even a second passed before Jack butted in.

"Go for it, Hic. Don't put yourself through that crap again."

"What? No, I-"

"I'm not afraid of this motherfucker, or any drug he can pump into me. Besides, I'd say I'm pretty used to nightmares by now." Jack's eyes flicked back to Pitch as he said this.

"Jack, I can't-"

"Yes you can!"

"Look, I'm pretty much dead already." I found myself raising my voice more than I'd meant to. "I mean, it's just a matter of time now until-" The eyes of everyone in the room drifted down to the stump where my leg once was. "I might as well get it over with and let one of you win. I mean, none of you are as screwed up as I am right now, are you?" At this point, I made eye contact with Rapunzel, whose one remaining eye had filled up and was leaking tears.

"I'm still waiting for a decision." Pitch was examining his nails, eyebrows raised.

"Fuck's sake, Hiccup, stop being noble and put yourself first for a change!" Jack was on the verge of yelling, but was managing to suppress his voice from becoming harsh. "You didn't see how horrible it was when you were out under that stuff. I don't wanna see you go through that again, Hic."

How horrible it was? I watched his expression falter from frustration to terror as he said those words.

"What do you mean?" I tilted my head in his direction.

"Hiccup, make your choice now or face elimination." Pitch snapped and I felt something cold being pressed to my neck. "Who do you choose?"

I fixed Jack with one last sorry look before spinning around to face Pitch head on. "I choose myself."

"You'll be receiving a double dose, you realise, twice as potent as what you experienced before?" Pitch's eyes were trailing between Jack and I as he spoke, a nasty grin spreading across his unbothered features.

"I know." I shut my eyes, sure that Jack was about to explode.

Sure enough, a second later, I heard the loud scraping of a chair as he jumped out of it. "Hiccup, you can't! Let me do it- argh!"

I opened my eyes again as Jack cried out in pain. A guard had wrestled his arms behind his back and was holding him still. Apparently though, he'd completely forgotten about (or deliberately ignored) Jack's new brand. His face was scrunched up in agony as his shoulder blades were yanked together.

"Stop!" My cry mixed with another voice yelling the same thing and I glanced over to Rapunzel again, who was also watching the scene in horror.

Pitch waved his hand complacently and the guard huffed before depositing Jack roughly onto the ground. He continued to groan and writhe on the carpet for a few seconds before using a chair to sit himself up and he stayed there on the floor, panting, while Pitch began to speak again.

I was really starting to get sick of hearing his voice.

"Hiccup, if you'd like to stay seated, I'll prepare your dose of nightmare sand." And with that, he glided away to the head of the table. I watched him carefully pour at least half the vial of black powder into a cup and then add about the same quantity of water. Then he put a lid on the cup and began shaking it like a cocktail, while making his way slowly back over to me.

"Shaken, not stirred." Pitch laughed stupidly at his own lame joke. "Now Hiccup, the way this is going to work is you are going to drink this, and then you'll be given something to help you… relax."

"You mean you'll knock me out?"

"Essentially, yes." Pitch cocked an eyebrow. "Although, perhaps 'knock' isn't quite the right word for it. More like I'll inject you into unconsciousness. Yes, that sounds more appropriate, I think."

"Why can't I stay awake?" I asked.

"It's called 'nightmare sand' for a reason Hiccup. It only activates once your body reaches a state of unconsciousness, natural or forced." He placed the cup in front of me and peeled back the lid. "Now drink. All in one go, if you would. Trust me, you're not going to want to savour the taste for longer than you need to."

I stared at the cup, and at the black liquid swirling around inside. I could see from the clumps of thick powder still floating in the drink that this was going to be unpleasant to swallow down. But I had to try.

"Hiccup, please don't…" Jack gasped, pain still evident in his strained voice from the floor.

"Jack, stop it. I have to." I didn't mean to sound so sharp, but my vocal chords were suddenly acting of their own accord and I couldn't stop myself snapping these words out at him.

"But you…" Jack couldn't even finish his sentence. I had downed the drink in three huge gulps.

Oh man, Pitch hadn't been lying about the taste. Sharp and bitter, it stung my throat and I had to squeeze my eyes shut as a wave of heat and nausea took over my head. Even with both my hands clamped over my mouth, it took a great amount of furious swallowing to keep the vile liquid from coming back up.

"Well done Hiccup. Very nicely done. Now hold still."

I barely had a chance to open my watering eyes when I felt a sharp sting in my left shoulder

"W-wait n-" My words weren't forming properly, coming out in strange slurs. The last thing I saw was Jack's worried face inches from my own before I was sucked backwards by an incredibly strong wind. As I flew, the room evaporated from view, Jack along with it, and I fell for what felt like forever.

Nothing but black, all around. I blinked, hoping to see something but I couldn't. I was in some kind of endless void of nothingness-

Nope, that was definitely a floor I just smacked into.

"Ow…" I sat up, rubbing my back. My leg was still missing, I could tell, but the pain had somehow dissipated. I glanced around. Total emptiness and total silence.

Terrifying silence, in fact.

"Hello?" I called, daring to break it. My words didn't carry past an inch in front of my face however. "Is anyone there?" I tried again, louder.

And then, from directly behind me, a voice answered.

"Hiccup."

I spun around, startled.

"Jack? Oh thank god you're here!" I tried to stand, forgetting my leg predicament, and fell back again.

Jack didn't react. He didn't speak, didn't move. He just stood there, not even looking down at me.

"J-Jack?" I stammered. "What's wrong?"

At these words, his eyes finally drifted down to meet my own, and slowly, he lowered himself so he was on his knees next to me.

"Hiccup." He said again, completely monotonously.

I was getting very freaked out now.

"Are you o-? Mmph-!" I was silenced mid-sentence by Jack's lips pressing suddenly against my own.

Jack Frost was kissing me.

Jack Frost was freaking kissing me!

He leaned against me until my back was on the floor again, and he was holding my head down with the passionate kiss. One of his hands stroked through my hair, the other lightly gripping the side of my neck. Unsure what to do with my own hands, I wrapped them around Jack's shoulders, pulling him closer to me.

Apparently Jack read this as an invitation because at this, I felt his warm tongue push through my lips and begin to dance with my own. Fireworks exploded behind my closed eyes, but all too quickly, I felt Jack beginning to pull away, his warm touch disappearing and leaving me cold and lonely.

I opened my eyes.

Jack was there, still straddling over me, his lips looking plump and wet.

But his face. It wasn't right. There was no emotion there at all.

"Jack, w-what's-?" I gasped, not realising I'd been holding my breath. "What's wrong with you?"

At long last, Jack reacted. But not in a way I'd expected. His head twisted impossibly to the side and he locked eyes with me. All too slowly, his face began to stretch into a terrifying grin. His teeth were sharp, pointed and spotted with blood.

And his eyes…

As I watched this horrific transformation, his beautiful blue irises faded to black and spread across the whites of his eyes too, until only shining black orbs were left in those dark-ringed sockets.

He was truly a terrifying sight. Especially considering only seconds ago, he'd been passionately kissing me.

"J-Jack?!" I cried out, trying to scramble away from him, but his body on top of me kept me pinned.

Expression not changing, and in a voice that was painfully still his, Jack finally spoke.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare, Hiccup."

...

 **Woohoo! I bet you all love me for that horrific ending! I wasn't planning on sending the story this way, it just kinda happened...**

 **Okay, so here's my wonderfully valid excuse. I have officially enrolled at, and have been attending, a new college for three weeks. It's awesome! It's an hour bus ride away but my BFFL goes there too and I've made a few friends there already. I'm taking English literature, photography, law and media studies. An amazing combination tbh. I also went to a wedding last weekend and guess what! I only went and passed my practical driving test with ZERO minors! In case you don't know what that means, a minor is like a small mistake (eg not checking mirrors, signalling too early/late etc) and getting ZERO minors means I am pretty much a perfect driver! HOLY CRAP I KNOW RIGHT I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER.**

 **Another excuse that I think is perfectly acceptable is that I binge watched Voltron Legendary Defender this week and I may have found my new obsession for the next month or so... srsly go check it out. It's a Netflix original and it's soooooo good!**

 **Shoutouts**

 **spnwinchester125: Holy crud, um thank you? I don't know what to say to that. That's such high praise considering I'm such a terrible author for updates. I'm so so so sorry for keeping you waiting for so long!**

 **pikianoa: I apologise for breaking your eyes. If they seriously won't tear themselves away, you have permission to sue me (pls don't I'm so poor). Thanks for the review though x it cracked me up!**

 **Snowflakesandangels: Again, ridiculous high praise which I can't thank you enough for. Imagine that I just copied and pasted 20 million Thank You's here (...) and that's how much I want to thank you xx If you liked the forming HiJack last chapter, you're gonna HATE me next chapter... hehe**

 **Raxacricofallapatoreous: YOUR USERNAME NEARLY KILLED ME TO TYPE OUT. But I understood that reference so awesome job! Tell your sister that it's my fault you were whimpering and she has permission to throw things at my head. Preferably nothing too heavy though. Maybe a pillow? Thanks for the review anyways xx**

 **Zephirad: Thank you for being patient. I know I'm horrible to you all for making you wait, but it's great to hear from you again since you've been here from the start. Thanks xxx Hope you enjoyed this one and the next one is gonna be fun to write methinks...**

 **Sion: I can't wait til January (my 18th birthday) so I can get a tattoo. I'm going to get an alphabet monogram (google the design) on my right arm. Thanks for your reviews anyways and for wishing me luck. College is going great so far xx**

 **TheOnlyNobody: Firstly, wonderfully terrible might be the best juxtaposed phrase I've ever heard so that made me laugh. Also, I know what you mean. There are times when I'm writing where I just kinda sit back in my chair and go, "why the hell am I writing this I'm a horrible person". Thanks for your review anyway and I hope you enjoyed this chapter x**

 **girlmixi: I haven't been brave enough to try out the wig thing yet, unfortunately... But I will try one day, I promise! Also don't worry about being busy. I've been super busy as well... I just finished reading the Cursed Child. It's great! Also, I have a media studies trip to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in London in December and I'm so excited for it! Thanks for your review anyways and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Carry on cosplaying! :D**

 **George: Here ya go, chapter 18... Thanks for your review xx Not sure how much longer this story will be, but we're further than halfway, I reckon...?**

 **...**

 **Whelp, there we go. I refuse to make any promises abot when the next chapter will be going up, so I'll just say, speak to you all relatively soon...? I'm kinda excited to write the next one so it probabaly won't be toooooo long.**

 **Pls review if you enjoyed cos reviews are my only motivation xx Until next time, byeeee**


	19. Hiccup the Murderer

**Wow, you can tell you haven't been on fanfiction for ages when it makes you log in again when you try to upload a chapter... hehe sorry about the wait. I really don't have an excuse. Not that I ever do, but whatevs. Sorry for the short chapter, and for how shit it is. But I've had a really crappy week and I just really wanted to get the guilt of this epdate off my chest before I did anything else... like sleep.**

 **Anyways enjoy x**

...

"Welcome to your worst nightmare, Hiccup."

I screamed. Or at least tried to, only to find my voice completely incapable of making more than a strange gurgling noise. I realised all too late that it was because Jack was strangling me. He'd shot his hands down to my neck and was squeezing so tight I thought my spine would snap.

"Jack- N-no, s-stop…" I choked out, desperately wriggling, trying to get out of his iron grip. But all my struggling only seemed to make it worse. Upon opening my eyes, I caught one last glimpse of Jack's horrific sharp-toothed grin before my vision faded completely to black, melting his chilling pale face into the surrounding darkness.

I could still hear his maniacal laughter ringing around the void and a part of me was wondering why I'd given in so easily. Jack and I were about equal in strength, despite his few inches on me. I could've pushed him off of me and made a run for it. I mean, it's not like I would have gotten very far with my messed up leg, but I could've tried.

So why didn't I?

"You might as well give up struggling, Hiccup." I heard a voice snarl, but it wasn't Jack's. I cracked open my eyes. "Just let go. No one is going to miss you anyway."

That voice was Pitch.

But it was coming from Jack as naturally as his own voice would've.

And that was all the motivation I needed. This wasn't Jack. This was all just a concoction of my mind, and that god-awful nightmare sand was making all this happen.

It was all in my mind.

"I said GET OFF ME!" I screamed and slammed forward with all my body weight, successfully managing to throw the nightmare Jack off to the side. He seemed surprised at my sudden outburst, but quickly recovered and began chuckling when he realised the same thing I had just discovered.

I still only had one leg. One working leg, that is. With no way to run away from him, I turned to face Jack, while still sitting on the floor.

He jerkily stood from where he'd landed and began slowly walking towards me. His face was still stuck in that horrific grin that made my insides curl up as he sauntered closer and closer. I desperately tried to keep a strong composure, but once he'd reached me and was stood towering over me, my body seemed to shut down in fear.

"Scared?" It was Jack's voice again. Oh god, why did it have to be his voice? That just made all of this so much worse…

"I'm not s-scared." I croaked out, not quite reaching the eyes of the figure looming above me still.

"You sure about that?"

"I'm not scared of you b-because you're not real." I said a little louder.

"Well, what makes you say that?" The not-real Jack laughed, crouching down and speaking right into my ear. "Wasn't that kiss real?"

"N-no…" I whispered. "No, it wasn't." I was so close to tears, but somehow, I was holding the waterfall back. I wasn't going to cry in front of Ja- Pitch. He didn't deserve the satisfaction.

"What about this?" He snarled and slapped me hard across the face, sending me down to land on my side on the floor. "Was that real? Was it?"

It hurt. Dreams never hurt. Not usually, anyway.

"No." my voice cracked slightly, but I didn't care. "I'm just dreaming, I'll wake up soon."

"How do you know that?" It was Pitch's voice again, and it seemed to be echoing around my head rather than coming from Jack. I shut my eyes tight and put my hands over my ears, trying to block him out.

For a moment, there was silence, and then a long, high laugh, a cruel mocking laugh that made me curl up into a ball in terror. The sound was surrounding me, filling me, coming from me.

"Stop it stop it stop it stop it." Words were leaving me in a drone and I couldn't stop. The laughing didn't stop though. It got louder and louder until finally, I was screaming over the top of it. Screaming incoherent noises with no meaning. I couldn't feel Jack next to me anymore. Had he gone? I hoped so.

The noise around me had reached such a frequency now that it was just a crackling hum that blocked out every other sound. Almost like static. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Shut up!" I screamed and it complied.

Silence.

Choking, blinding, deafening.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. No longer was I surrounded by a void of black. I was… No.

I was back in the dining room, lying on the floor, staring up at the soft light coming from the chandelier. I'd woken up! Yes...

I could hear voices. Two or three, all vaguely familiar. They were saying my name, and other things I couldn't quite catch or register. Where were they though?

"H-hey." I tried to tell the people I was awake.

"Hiccup?" I immediately froze at that voice. No… It can't be. She can't- "Hiccup, what's wrong?" Merida's pink, smiling face appeared suddenly in my field of vision and she pulled me to my feet.

Feet.

"Wait what-?" As I swayed on the spot, I stared down at my two very working and still-attached feet.

"What's up with you, Hic? You just kinda fell over out of nowhere."

I looked up to Merida again, completely flabbergasted by everything. How was she here? I saw her die. I watched her heart stop. How was my leg back? I was shaking like a leaf as I sat back down at the table. Ten people were sat there, including me.

Everyone was back.

Tooth and Flynn and Aster and Merida were back, looking as content and unharmed as they had before everything went to shit. I took a moment to look at them all. Had they any idea what was about to happen?

I noticed with a jolt that Dagur was also back at the table, and he was locked on staring at me.

Pitch began speaking, the same lying speech he gave at the beginning of the evening. I could almost have recited it word for word. But no… This wasn't the same speech.

"And may I give an extra warm welcome to our most important guest, Hiccup Haddock, the murderer. Give him a hand folks, for tonight he killed each and every one of you."

"What, no. I didn't-"

Everyone was clapping.

I stared wildly around the table and nearly screamed at the sight. The seven guests were all staring at me, but their eyes were pure black, like the Nightmare Jack's were and they all wore the same horrific grin on their faces. Jack himself, was sat right beside me, smile wide and terrifying. I jumped from my chair and backed against the wall. Tooth, Jack and Rapunzel immediately stood and followed me. The others approached from behind them after walking around the table.

They were still clapping.

"You killed us all." Rapunzel said sweetly.

"No, n-no I didn't, I-"

"You murdered us to save yourself." Aster chuckled, as if it was funny.

"I didn't. I-"

"You are the reason we're dead." Astrid cooed.

"N-no, I'm not- I d-" I stopped when I suddenly ran out of wall to back into and the figures approaching had me cornered. Jack was inches from me and I found myself with nowhere to look but those disturbingly black eyes. They crinkled slightly as a tear escaped his left eye.

And then he said something that broke my heart in two.

"I trusted you, Hiccup."

...

I shot up, gasping for breath and clutching my chest. So much pain. Had I finally woken up for real? Was the nightmare finally fucking over?

"Hiccup, breathe." Jack's voice. Oh man, did I have mixed feelings about that sound… "Hic, please, you're okay, just breathe. It's over, it's all gone, you're back now. You're back in the real world."

And I realised that the crushing pain in my chest was due to Jack holding me in a tight hug.

"That wasn't fun…" I sighed, pressing my face into the crook of Jack's neck and his shoulders began to shake as he laughed at the understatement. Then my eyes filled with tears, "Jack, I'm sorry."

"What, Hiccup, why are you sorry?" Jack pulled back and looked me in the eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I couldn't say anything else for a while.

"Sorry for what, Hiccup?"

"I killed you."

...

 **Man, I hated this chapter. I don't even know where the fudge this story is going anymore... I'm sorry if the chapters seem to be getting a bit repetitive but I'm going to definitely try to shake things up a bit next time.**

 **College is going okay. I haven't really made any friends yet but I've joined the gym and I'm gonna be getting a car before xmas so I can go wherever I want and avoid talking to anyone... lol story of my life.**

 **Shoutouts (less and less every time... :.**

 **spnwinchester125: I'm glad you liked the chapter. I think last time was probably one of the best. I hope this one was good enough to satisfy you for a while until I get some actual inspiration... If you have any ideas I'd love to hear 'em! Thanks for the review anyways xx**

 **pikianoa: Fun fact, I'm actually studying law at college atm so I dare you try going rabid lawyer on my butt. But to be fair, I'd totally sue me for how long this freaking piece of crap chapter took... Sorry pls don't give up on me though it's gonna get better I pwomise!**

 **snowflakesandangels: I'm assuming that review was yours... It came up as guest, but you responded to the 20 million thank yous so imma assume it was you. Glad I made you woozy and I hope you found your brain. There'll be some more of that wooze-inducing stuff to come I'm hoping... Pitch is a cheeky bugger after all.**

 **george doughty: Well thank you very much. That's a pretty awesome thing to say in a review not gonna lie... Made my day so thank you xx**

 **George: Here ya go. Sorry if it disappointed but it's currently nearly 1am and my brain needs to sleep so forgive me pls x**

 **Sion: I think I have a crush on this Jack too so dw about it... I'm writing him as like the most overprotective, awesome, caring dude I can imagine so it's not hard to fall in love with him... In the army? Will you still be able to read fanfiction? Sounds like a nightmare if you can't... jk I'll let ya know when/if it ever happens. Thanks for sticking with this story xx**

 **ChristineBH: Wow, I read this review while I was trying to be sneaky on my phone in a lesson and I smiled and my tutor asked me why and I told him I just got a really good review on one of my stories (I was in a media studies lesson so he wouldn't have minded) and he asked me to read it out and then started going off about how important it is to 'get your work out there so you can get feedback and improve on it'. So be aware that your review became a pretty pivotal point of that lesson... And thanks for the review xx It made me happy reading it! And 5am reading isn't that insane dw it's a regular thing for me too. I feel like if Dagur and Pitch were to be put in a room together, their opposite personalaties would either equal disaster or perfection...**

 **...**

 **Thanks for reading to the end guys. Again, I apologize for the crappy chapter. Next one should be up soon-ish but I'm striggling for ideas so if you have any suggestions or even loose ideas please let me know and I'll almost definitely include it!**


	20. The Basement

**Guess who's back? Back again? Avani's back. Tell a friend. idk where that came from, sorry guys. I don't think this update was ridiculously late, but it still isn't really on time either but oh well, this is a pretty long chapter so hopefully you can forgive me. Stuff starts to get better for our heroes this chapter so be prepared for that... I don't wanna give too much away so enjoy and I'll speak to ya at the end x**

...

"I killed you Jack. I- I killed all of you…" I stammered, tears threatening to cascade down my face, which was still heavily resting on Jack's shoulder. I felt his body stiffen and then just as quickly, relax, before he spoke.

"Hiccup, what do you mean? I'm right here. You're awake now. You haven't killed anyone…"

"Do- do you trust me?" I had no idea why I felt like I needed to ask that, but at the time, all I could remember was what Jack had said. That he trusted me. And that I had betrayed that apparent trust.

Jack looked slightly confused at the question at first and pushed away to look into my face. "Of course I trust you Hiccup. You've saved me countless times tonight. I'd trust you with my life."

I froze for a moment, stunned by his response. I looked down at my lap and blinked a few times before looking back up to him and trying to smile.

"Okay."

"Pleasantries all cleared up now?" A voice belonging to a body I wished I had the strength to strangle spoke. "Good, because I do believe it's Jack's turn now. Before that however, Hiccup, can I first congratulate you on your performance just now. I've never actually given a living human a dose of nightmare sand that big before and you handled it like a champion."

 _Living human?_ What the hell did he mean by that? I glanced over to Jack again and found his eyes locked onto me too. How long had he been staring? It seemed like it had been forever since I'd seen his face properly. His beautiful, normal, blue-not-black eyed, smiling-a-little-bit-but-not-like-a-demonic-maniac face.

Pitch was still speaking, but I was still ignoring him, taking in the details of Jack's irises as he did the same to me.

However, even as I looked at him, his expression began to change, slowly transforming back into a nightmare. I scrunched up my face, closing my eyes and when I reopened them, Jack was back, putting a hand on my shoulder worriedly.

"Y'okay?" He asked in a whisper.

I nodded, even though I wasn't.

"Jack. Were you listening to any of that?" Pitch interjected, hands folded in front of him.

"No, I wasn't. Why?" Jack snapped back, swivelling around to face him, but keeping a hand planted firmly on my shoulder. "Hope it wasn't too important…"

Pitch looked like he wanted to backhand Jack into next year, but managed to restrained himself. "Jack, I was explaining how the rounds are going to be slightly different this time. No choice, just chance." He then jerked his head towards the table, where a pair of black and red dice sat innocently in front of his placemat.

"What? We playing D&D now?" Astrid said snarkily. I suddenly remembered they were still here with us too. Astrid and Rapunzel. Both blondes were looking equally as beaten-up as each other, but at that moment, Astrid was fixing Pitch with such a murderous glare, that for some reason, looked natural on her face.

"I didn't take you for a dungeon master, Miss Hofferson?" Pitch laughed. "But unfortunately, no. Nothing as elaborate as that. You'll simply be asked to roll the dice to discover the two dilemmas you'll then need to choose between."

"So there _is_ still a choice involved." Jack said.

"Yes, for you. But not for me. That's what makes it more fun to watch. And that's what's important, isn't it?"

Jack didn't reply.

"Okay, so like I said. This round, you will roll the dice and be presented then with two dilemmas of equal, or potentially unequal severity, and you'll need to make a choice as to which one you'll endure. No rolling again. And if I catch you trying to cheat the dice, the consequences will be unimaginable, I assure you."

"I don't doubt it." Jack sighed. "Can we just get on with this then?"

"Wonderful attitude, Mr Frost." Pitch scooped up the dice and dropped them into Jack's hands. "Roll whenever you're ready. Onto the table though, please."

I watched Jack peer at the dice curiously, before he sighed again and dropped them onto the wooden tabletop. They bounced and rolled and the clattering noise they made on the surface seemed to echo impossibly loud as every eye watched them intently, waiting for them to stop.

The first die halted on five. The second was still spinning.

"How'd you know what the numbers mean? Jack asked, not talking his eyes off the twirling die.

Pitch didn't reply, but I looked up to see him tapping a pencil on a black clipboard he was suddenly holding.

Then I looked back to the die. It has stopped.

"One. Making your choice of dilemmas…" Pitch paused scanning the clipboard, allowing a horrid smile to creep across his features when his eyes came to a stop. "Okay, and number five is… Oh, oh ho, Jack. This _is_ exciting." He straightened up and cleared his throat. "Jack, would you rather-"

He was cut off completely by the sound of a massive explosion from directly above the dining room. The table shook and shards of glass smashed down from the chandelier.

"Gothel, what the hell was that?" Pitch barked, throwing down the clipboard and charging over to the door.

Gothel was pressing an earpiece against her ear, listening to what I assumed were other guards positioned around the mansion. I could here the shrill voices coming from the speakers even from across the room.

I had to agree with Pitch here… What the hell was that?

"Sir, a group of unidentified people have infiltrated the west wing of the manor. They've taken out the front door and are heading to the back of the building. They're all armed." There was a pause as Gothel listened again. "They don't seem to be aware of our whereabouts though."

Pitch rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, groaning. "Bloody hell, how the fuck did this happen? Who the fuck-?" He stopped suddenly, snapping his head around to face me. "You. When you- and that meddling doctor, oh for fucks sake, you've done it now!" He screamed the last words and was marching around the table towards me in a second.

Jack, however, jumped up and stood over me in less than a second, holding out his arms like a shield.

"Out of my way!" Pitch growled, raising a hand to deliver the backhand he'd resisted giving Jack before. Before he could comprehend what was happening though, Jack had grabbed Pitch by the wrist and was pushing him away.

Away from me.

" _I_ called them here." Jack shouted right in Pitch's face. "And they're gonna fuck you up big time."

"You little-"

"Sir, we need to move or they will find us soon." Gothel interrupted, yanking Astrid and Rapunzel to their feet, with iron grips on their arms. "The basement is our best bet." She began barking orders at the other guards, who all left, presumably heading down to this 'basement'. Gothel dragged Astrid and Rapunzel away behind them and as she did, I caught the eye of Rapunzel, whose face was a mixture of terror and confusion.

I mouthed to her something that felt like, 'It'll be okay' but could just as easily have been, 'I'm sorry, goodbye'. I shook my head as she disappeared from the room with Astrid and turned back to the two men left in the room.

It was just Jack, Pitch and me now.

"Who are they?" Pitch spat, finally losing the temper he'd been repressing all night.

"Friends of mine." Jack replied firmly, not breaking eye contact as he continued to grip his wrist tightly and hold Pitch away from him. "They do this kind of thing for a living. You might've heard of them actually. They're pretty famous in the big city."

"Who are they?!" Pitch almost screamed.

"You're going to find out in a few seconds if we stay here chatting about it." Jack smirked, and on cue, another explosion shook the room. This one sounded a lot closer.

At that, Pitch exploded. He threw Jack's hand off of him with enough force to break his arm and grabbed Jack by the hair. Then he roared and slammed Jack's head against the table. He slid to the floor, out cold.

I froze, trembling and staring at Jack's lifeless form on the ground. "No…"

"Now Hiccup, am I going to have to do that to you too or can you fucking behave yourself?"

I couldn't move. Couldn't nod or shake my head or anything, so I just sat there, not taking my eyes off Jack. A patch of red was beginning to spread through his snowy white hair.

I was still looking at him when Pitch gripped my wrist and pulled me to my feet- wait, foot! Before I could process what was happening, I had crumpled on the floor in a heap right next to Jack.

"I can't catch a fucking break!" Pitch snarled and without pausing for breath, switched to his plan B. He latched onto my ankle and one of Jack's wrists and began dragging us across the floor.

"H-hey!" I finally found my voice. "Let go! Let go of us!" My head was scraping along the carpeted hallways and all I could see was the ceiling, moving like a conveyer belt above me as Pitch took us god-know's where. Those friends of Jack's were still in the building somewhere though. Maybe I could get their attention somehow.

"Help!" I screamed. "Someone help!"

"Shut it." Pitch snapped, and with that, we suddenly were descending. Let me tell you, being dragged down a flight of concrete stairs by your foot isn't fun. Especially when your head smashes against each and every step rhythmically until all you see is stars. Jack was still unconscious, and luckily his head was raised off the ground, but his legs and back must've been taking one hell of a beating.

Finally, the stairs stopped their assault and we were being led into a room that was significantly colder than the rest of the house.

"Took you long enough, sir." I could hear Gothel's voice resonating from somewhere, though my eyes hadn't quite recovered enough to be able to see anything clearly yet. "What happened to him?"

"He got on my last nerve." Pitch snarled and upon entering a new room, roughly threw Jack and I to the floor. I winced as my leg flared up in pain and I had to bite back a cry.

I heard some muffled sounds coming from my left and looked over to see Rapunzel and Astrid gagged and sitting on some crates with their hands tied behind their backs.

Another explosion shook dust from the ceiling, which was bare with only a single bulb hanging from it.

"So who is it, sir? Did you find out?" Gothel asked.

"No. The prick wouldn't tell me anything." Pitch sighed.

"So you knocked him out?"

"Yes."

"Bit rash, even for you, sir."

"Shut up."

"Yes, sir."

There was a pregnant pause.

"So what's the plan now, sir? They'll surely find the bodies."

Bodies? I hadn't thought about that, but the others' bodies must've been hidden somewhere in the mansion. Oh god…

"We're just going to wait it out, Gothel. We're well hidden with suitable firepower," He gestured around the room, and only now did I see that the walls were lined- no, wallpapered with an assortment of different guns of every kind and the crates, I could only guess, were filled with ammunition.

"Even if these clowns do find us, we can take them." Pitch grabbed a particularly large rifle-looking thing off the wall and held it towards the door. Gothel did the same, as did the three or four guards surrounding them.

And then there was a horrible silence.

And it seemed to last forever.

And in that forever, I managed to make eye contact with Astrid, who seemed lost, and Rapunzel, who was in tears, and then I looked over to Jack. His face was turned towards me, eyes closed and mouth lax and a thin trickle of blood running across his nose.

And in that moment, I became aware of how much I loved Jack.

And how much I desperately wanted to save him from this hell, and keep Pitch away from the both of us, and never let myself see him hurt like this again.

In that moment, I decided I was going to do something. I was going to kick Pitch in the back, the knees, the balls, somewhere… I just knew I had to do something as I shakily pushed myself up onto my knees and crawled towards Pitch's turned back.

All logic fled from my mind and I was running on pure rage as I straightened up right behind him, pulling my fist back, ready to strike.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, and was about to swing at him, when it happened.

They finally found us.

There was a bright flash of red light and the door, all guns pointing at, was blasted clean off it's hinges. Gunshots rang out and smoke filled the room. I fell back down to my side, choking on the fumes, as did everyone else. Several deafening crashes and more blazes of light completely obliterated my senses and the last thing I registered before passing out was a masked figure running towards me, shouting.

...

 **Okayyyyyyyyy, so WHO ARE THEY?! I know who they are... hahahaha and you won't until next chapter! Have a guess in a review as to who you think are our heroes' rescuers.**

 **I have a funny story to tell guys so gather around! I have been writing some of this chapter (maybe like the first third) on college computers, because I usually have an extra 45 minutes before classes start once my morning bus rolls in. So on a tuesday morning, I did the same as always. Went up to the media block computer suite, fired up a PC and opened up google drive. I'd been writing for a solid thirty minutes, and the rest of my media class had showed up and were queueing outside the classroom, and was just at the scene where our dear Jack is slammed ceremoniously into the table when my teacher walks in. He looks at me, then at the wall behind me, then back to me and raises an eyebrow. I turn around and nearly shit myself. There's a projector hooked up to my computer AND IT HAD BEEN PROJECTING EVERYTHING I'D BEEN WRITING UP ONTO THE WALL FOR EVERYONE IN THE ROOM TO SEE! I nearly cried right there and then. I don't think anybody saw and realised it was my screen because the computer suite had been pretty full at the time, but holy christ, there's no hiding that I'm a fanfic junkie now...**

 **So yeah, great first impression at a new college, Avani... *epic facepalm***

 **I don't think I'm gonna bother with a life update this time, cos nothing's really happened but thanks for reading x**

 **Shoutouts:**

 **pikianoa: i don't get that reference I'm afraid... what's it from and I'll make a note to watch/read/indulge in said fandom. Thanks for the review regardless and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **girlmixi: "How is everything going?" is a really good question, and the answer is, I don't actually know. Everything that I know of is going well, but how do I know if absolutely everything is going well? Something may be wrong and I don't even know it, but nevermind. I'm feeling philosophical today. Thanks for keeping up with reviews also, they really make me happy too! Carry on cosplaying!**

 **spnwinchester125: I know how you feel. I think I've typed out the words 'thank you' so many times, they don't even feel like real words anymore. I'm honestly so honoured and flattered that you're even taking the time to read my story, let alone that it's the only HTTYD story you follow, so for that, thank you so much! Argh I said it again. Hope you enjoyed the chapter - your faithful author, AvaniAcrux**

 **Snowflakesandangels: Wow, those torture methods are very well thought out and terrifying. Do I need to be worried that you'll use them on me if I don't get my update schedule working? Yeah, I really do need to start planning out my stories before I start writing, but this one has taken a massive turn that I wasn't expecting and I think it's headed in an interesting direction so I ain't mad at that... A cheeky bugger, he is. An absolute tosser. Funny how that's completely normal slang for me, but a lot of readers think I'm making fun of Jude Law for it... Hope you enjoy this chapter xx**

 **Sion (i think? the name didn't come up): I do love creating the perfect men... It's a great way to spend an evening. Thank you so so so much for sticking with this story and going out of your way to write reviews. It really makes my day and makes these fics worth writing!**

 **george doughty: Why thank you x Here's number 20 for ya. Wow, that's a lot of chapters... I wasn't expecting it to go on for this long.**

 **20 chapters in, not sure how much further to go, but pls drop a review if you likey'd and if you wanna read more xx**


	21. Gentle Giant

**I'm sorry these chapter updates keep getting longer gaps and shorter content every time, but my motivation for this story has gone a bit squiffy. I really enjoyed writing this chapter though, so I hope you enjoy and don't hate me too much for the atrocious wait time...**

...

They finally found us.

There was a bright flash of red light and the door, all guns pointing at, was blasted clean off it's hinges. Gunshots rang out and smoke filled the room. I fell back down to my side, choking on the fumes, as did everyone else. Several deafening crashes and more blazes of light completely obliterated my senses and the last thing I registered before passing out was a masked figure running towards me, shouting.

"Hey man, we're here to help. Can you stand up?" It was a voice I didn't recognise, and it sounded strange. Younger than me… But that didn't make sense. "Can you hear me?" It spoke again.

"Y-yeah…" I stammered, and then remembered, "Jack. Where-?"

"Jack's fine. He called us, and we're getting you all outta here now." He was breathless, and I noticed as I finally looked up at him, that he really was just a kid. Looked to be about four or five years younger than me. He was wearing a bluey purple and red helmet that covered his whole face like a motorcycle helmet and was also sporting a kind of armour of the same colour. "Dude, we gotta hurry, can you-" He trailed off and his voice began shaking. "Oh god. Oh god, uh… Baymax!" He shouted over his shoulder.

I nearly screamed at what happened next. A giant man, wearing a similar uniform to the kid, but reversed colours suddenly appeared next to us. He towered above the two of us and his body was all weirdly out of proportion. His chest and arms were way too long for his legs and his head was tiny. He also had a huge pair of metal wings sprouting from his back.

What really made me worry though, was the way he stood so motionless, like a robot as soon as he stopped.

"Baymax, his leg…" The kid said, "What do we need to do?"

"I will scan the patient now." The giant man said in a soft voice that didn't match his physique in the slightest. His head bobbed down and then up again, "Scan complete."

"Baymax, you didn't need to scan him, it's pretty obvious what's wrong with him!" The kid almost yelled at him.

"I'm detecting multiple injuries besides the incorrectly amputated right leg. The patient has a minor concussion, several lacerations on the chest area, an amputated digit finger, significant bruising and some minor burns on his arms and torso. He has ingested a poison of some sort which is affecting his metabolism. There also appears to be an abnormal hormone chemical imbalance, resulting in sensory deprivation. His blood supply has dropped by approximately thirty-eight percent, indicating he'll need a transfusion as soon as possible."

Man, that voice was hypnotic…

"Yes, thanks Baymax, but I think stopping him dying should be the priority right now. What can we do right now?"

"Where's Jack?" I said quietly.

"Jack's fine, okay. Fred's got him." The kid paused, and glanced between me and the giant. "Baymax, can you carry him outta here?"

"Of course I can, Hiro. I am capable of lifting up to and including one thousand pounds."

"Yeah yeah, but can you carry him without hurting him even more?"

"I can ensure minimal discomfort to the patient."

"Okay then. C'mon, we gotta get out of here." The kid (was it Hiro?) glanced around quickly and then stood up again. "The others have already gone. Hurry Baymax!" And he rushed out of sight, leaving me alone with the armoured giant.

"Hello. I am Baymax, your personal healthcare-"

"Not time for that, c'mon!" Hiro yelled from the doorway.

The giant paused for a moment, and then immediately stooped down and lifted me off the ground with his huge arms.

I'm not gonna lie when I say I was completely terrified, but I couldn't've struggled even if I wanted to. My head was thumping like crazy. I was being carried bridal style, but he kept a firm hand on my neck to stop my head from flopping about, which I was grateful for.

"I apologise for the hurry, but you are in need of urgent medical assistance. Please relax." The giant said in that strangely soothing voice as he began walking across the room, towards Hiro. His steps were weird. Again, almost robotic. I closed my eyes for a second, the side of my face being pressed against his chestplate.

As I was carried back up and out of the basement, I couldn't help but wonder where Pitch was. But as soon as I attempted to voice this question, something cold and plastic was held over my mouth and nose. I immediately thrashed, trying to get it off my face.

"Do not panic. This is to help you breathe." The voice replied to my struggling. "We are entering an area with a low oxygen concentration. Please breathe into the mask to avoid inhaling any toxicities."

Low oxygen concentra-? Oh, the explosions earlier. What if they were smoke bombs? That would explain it. I tried to breathe normally, still feeling very weird being carried by a stranger with such a peculiar body and voice.

And why didn't he have to wear a mask too?

We carried on through the mansion hallways for about a minute before I started to recognise the rooms. To the left of us was the door to the dining room. A shudder ran down my spine just looking at the doorway. The mask didn't come away from my face at all though, and I started to panic a little. If this was oxygen, it tasted funny. No, I was just being paranoid…

"Are you okay?" The voice asked again after a while.

I couldn't really reply under the mask, so I just mumbled and kinda nodded. Was this house this big before? Why hadn't we reached the front door yet?

And again, where was Jack?

Almost exactly as I thought this, I felt a gust of cold wind on my face.

"Baymax, is he still awake?" I heard Hiro's voice again, calling from below us.

"The patient is still conscious, yes."

"Hiccup!"

"Oh god, is he okay?!"

Those were some voices I recognised. I strained to turn my head and caught a glimpse of Rapunzel and Astrid both sitting on the ramp of an ambulance, which was parked up with the back doors flung wide, blue lights flashing.

There was already a person lying in there on a stretcher.

"Ja-" I tried to speak, forgetting about the mask and ending up coughing into it, creating clouds of my hot breath on the plastic.

"You still need to relax, Hiccup." Okay, now I was getting sick of that monotonous, always calm voice. "Your friend is stable. Focus on breathing for now."

"Where- where's Pitch?" I whimpered, managing to wrench the dumb mask away from my mouth.

My question went unanswered however, as the second I removed the mask, a shock of freezing cold air was sucked into my lungs and I curled up, coughing and spluttering. I felt the stab wound on my side, that had gone unnoticed for so long, suddenly rip open again and cringed at the wet, warm sensation spreading across my stomach.

"Hiro, a previous laceration has just reopened. The patient's blood loss is now at forty percent."

"We don't have time for the ambulance then. Baymax, you need to get him to the hospital now!"

"But Hiro, the potential risks that would involve-"

"He's gonna die, Baymax! Just fly him there now and we'll meet you there as soon as we can. Go, now!"

"Hiro, I don't think-"

"It's too dangerous, dude…"

New voices were piping up now, but with my own consciousness dwindling away by the second, I couldn't really decipher what most of them were saying.

One phrase made it through my groggy brain perfectly though.

"Would you rather take a risk to save him or let him die in the ambulance?!"

…

I didn't even remember passing out, but I must've done, because the next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes to inky blackness pressing in from all angles. It was also painfully cold, like I was being slapped with freezing hands from all around me.

 _No. No no no, not again. Not here again, please…_

"Hiccup, please remain still, We are almost there."

"What?" I mumbled back to the voice.

"You lost consciousness approximately seven minutes ago. I am transporting you to Burgess Hospital for medical attention."

"Baymax? Ugh, why is it so dark though?"

"We are currently travelling at fifty five miles per hour at an altitude of one hundred and seventy metres from ground level."

It took me a minute to piece together what he was saying. "Wait, we're in the air? We're flying?!"

"Yes. I estimate our arrival time at the hospital to be in just under four minutes."

"Ugh, ow…" I moaned as my stomach lurched with another painful jolt.

Baymax suddenly seemed to stiffen slightly, but carried on flying at the same speed. "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"What-? Uh, an eight I guess." I mean, it could've been a lot worse. At least my leg, or lack thereof, wasn't hurting anymore.

But was that a good or bad thing?

"Hold on, Hiccup."

"Where are the others?" I groaned.

"The other patients and my friends are travelling below us in an ambulance. Their arrival time will be approximately eight minutes later than ours."

"Who are you guys?" I questioned, looking up at Baymax, and his unusually small head.

"We are Big Hero Six. I am Baymax, a personal healthcare companion. I was designed by Tadashi Hamada to diagnose and treat those with illnesses or injuries."

I flinched slightly at that name. Tadashi… He'd died trying to save me, and now Baymax was trying to do the same. I wondered if he knew about what had happened to him.

But before I could ask, something else perked my attention.

"Designed?" I frowned. "What d'you mean, 'designed'?"

"I am a robot."

Those were the last words I heard before I passed out again, in the arms of a robot designed by a dead man.

...

 **Bit of a depressing ending, I know... But dw I'll make it better in the next one, I promise. I really found it fun writing in Baymax kind of language, and I hope it was accurate enough. Also, I feel like the whole 'flying patients to the hospital because it's quicker' thing would be a genuine argument the team would often have to decide. Especially since Hiro's kinda quick-thinking and reckless. I also decided to write Hiro as a bit distant and 'bratty' for a reason. You'll find out soon why.  
**

 **But overall, it seems things are looking up for our heroes, right? RIGHT? RIGHT?!**

 **Shoutouts**

 **spnwinchester125: Thanks for your appreciation. I hope you're satisfied with this chapter. We've already tortured Tadashi enough, so why not his ickle bro and his friends too? HAHAHAHA You're gonna hate me next chapter. PS Jack isn't the one you really need to be worried about...**

 **girlmixi: I've been thinking about writing a zombie apocalypse au actually... Just started reading Warm Bodies which is really good. I might think about doing a fic based on that (with Jack as a zombie?). I'm honoured to be one of your favourite writers, so thank you so much!**

 **I am a Spoon not a Fork: It's our favourite heroes BH6! Thanks for the review and ur username made me smile. So random**

 **pikianoa: YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE WHO GUESSED RIGHT! And yup, my entire class kinda knew it was me. But I did make a new friend out of it because a girl came up to me and asked for my fanfiction url so she could read it... which means she's probably reading this chapter now... whoops... Anyways thanks for reviewing and I'll check out your profile and stories asap too!**

 **george doughty: Why thank you xxx Hope you enjoy this one! 21 already, can't believe how long this is getting...**

 **hixup: I do enjoy torturing people with cliffhangers... muhahaha. This one wasn't too evil a cliffhanger so prepare yourself for worse...**

 **Snowflakesandangels: THE SHIP HAS OFFICIALLY SAILED! THE L WORD HAS BEEN SAID! YOU CAN ALL STOP NAGGING ME NOW. Hehe honestly, when you said that quote, it took me a while to find it. I was like, did I write that? And then I found it and I actually had a bit of a fangirl moment myself over my own writing... man that's vain of me. Oh well... I was gonna have Jack's friends be the guardians but then I realised that two of the four have kind of already been brutally murdered by Pitch as of now, so it'd be a pretty tiny rescue team. Also, I wanted to write about my favourite Marvel heroes... Thanks for the compliments, as usual, they brighten my day. I actually went a little lightheaded at your "m'lady"... I'm sure a proper lady wouldn't torture her characters like this, would she? YEP. Like I said in an earlier review, I actually made a friend out of it because she's in the fadom too and we're now secret big four nerds... Hope you liked this chapter and I wish I could say more but I kinda really need to sleep now.**

 **Sion: Aww thanks x hope you enjoyed this one!**

 **AlyssaJ-DaughterOfTheStars: It seems you went through a lot of emotions there, and for that, I apologise... And to your request, what happens in this story is very much based on what mood I'm in when I write it, so no promises on a happy ending, but things are looking up, right?**

 **...**

 **Thanks for reading, and pls leave a review if you want more! xx**


	22. Hospital

**This wait has been inexcusable and for that, I am so so so so sorry. But oh well, better latte than never, eh? Oh god, I'm sorry. Okay, girlmixi left a review which sparked up this chapter. To be honest, I was about to abandon it, but then I was like, no, the public need me! So here we are... We're getting close to the end though. I reckon another three or four after this will suffice... Enjoy x**

...

When I woke up next, I couldn't open my eyes. In fact, I couldn't move. I panicked, but nothing happened. I was literally paralysed. But I could still feel everything. A cold breeze on my eyelids, the plastic mask over my face, strong, rigid arms cradling me, my own heart thudding against his chestplate.

Baymax. That was right… I'd been flying. We'd been in the air, and it was amazing while it lasted. Unfortunately, the jump from soaring through the skies to suddenly being immobile was about as terrifying as it sounds.

"-e awake?" I could hear voices.

"-aymax, scan him!" Another shout, painfully close to my ear. Then a weird shudder ran down my spine, and I heard another voice.

Baymax was speaking, but the silky hypnotic voice was too lovely to listen to that I didn't process any of what he was actually saying. Something about 'trauma' definitely came up a few times though.

Who? Who's under trauma? Oh right. That's probably me…

I tried to speak, tried to open my eyes, tried oh so desperately to move my body at all, just to let somebody know I was okay, but it was no use.

"Honey, Gogo, get the others in the hospital!" Hiro - that was the voice I could hear - shouted, "Wasabi, help Baymax with Hiccup."

Now I couldn't even make sense of what he was saying… These were just made up words, surely.

"Fred, get Jack to the ER now!"

At those words, I snapped my eyes open so fast it hurt. "J-Jack?!" I gasped into the mask.

Suddenly, I was rocking from side to side as Baymax sprinted into the hospital, with its too bright lights and weird smells.

"Hiccup, please relax, we're at the hospital now. You will be safe here."

 _I'll be safe here?_ Why would I care about being safe? I was fine. It was Jack who needed help! He hadn't woken up yet. He had a head injury and he hadn't woken up yet! As far as I knew, that made him a priority. What if- What if he didn't wake up again?

"W-where's…?" I couldn't find my words, my tongue feeling floppy and useless in my mouth.

"Dude, Jack's okay. Worry about yourself for now." Someone to my left was saying, as Baymax carried on hurrying down corridors.

"I'm f-fine, j-just where's Jack?" I wheezed, finding it more and more difficult to get enough air into my lungs the further we went. "Where is he?!" I screamed this now, struggling violently against Baymax's hold and nearly tumbling to the floor. "I have to know he's okay!"

"Jack's in the ER now, and that's where we need to get you too, so calm down!" The stranger to my left was yelling frantically.

"Wasabi, please use a lower register and volume, loud noises could prove harmful to Hiccup in this state."

"State?" I cried, still thrashing about, "I'm fine. Let me see Jack!"

"Doc, you free?" Wasabi? asked, but he wasn't talking to me.

"Oh god, yes yes. Get him in here now." There were too many voices now, mingling together into a blur of sounds. I felt myself being lowered onto a table, and stretched out like this, allowing my stump to touch the bench, I cried out in pain and couldn't struggle anymore. "What happened?"

Baymax immediately recited the same diagnosis he'd made of my injuries from earlier, and even though my eyes were closed, I could clearly picture the horrified face the doctor was making just by listening to the shocked gasps coming from above me.

I was doing everything I could not to scream and thrash my way out of the grip of whoever was holding one of my arms, but the energy I had before seemed to have been sucked out of me the second I laid down on the table. The only indication I was very clearly giving off about my pain was my clenched teeth and facial muscles, which were tightly contorted.

"Doc, can you give him something? Like a painkiller or anything?" Hiro said, and a few moments later, I felt a sharp prick in my elbow.

"Hey!" This time, I found my voice and my eyes flew open as I scrambled to push the needle away from my arm.

"Hiccup, calm down. That was just a painkiller. It's gonna make you feel better." Wasabi's face swam into view for the first time and I was almost relieved by how friendly and calm his features were, even behind that strange orange visor. "Hiccup, lay back down and relax." I found myself obeying the soothing voice. "We're gonna get you sorted out, okay?"

I nodded as his hands helped to guide my head back down onto the hard table. In the background of Wasabi's comforting words, I could just about hear Hiro and Baymax talking to the doctor. I heard a few words that I recognised, including one I really didn't like the sound of. _Lethal._

What did they mean?

"Hiccup. Close your eyes and relax. You're gonna be fine." Wasabi was still talking softly to me, but also trying to divide his attention between me and the conversation taking place behind him.

"Where's Jack?" I asked again, eyes actually beginning to feel heavy. Was that painkiller a sedative too? I was pretty sure it was.

"He's going to be okay. I know it might be difficult, but just worry about yourself for now."

At these words, I audibly groaned. Why did nobody get that I didn't care about myself? I just wanted to know if Jack was okay. And what happened to Astrid and Rapunzel? And Pitch himself… Where the heck had he gone? None of that had been explained to me yet and if anything, that was what was bothering me the most right now. Not so much the pain, but the fact that I didn't know anything other than that pain. I felt ignorant and selfish, even though I knew there was no way I could've done anything about it.

I felt another sharp prick in my arm but this one didn't go away straight away and eventually, the pressure of it blended into the background noise of pain and I ignored it.

A high pitched noise beeped next to me and then people were talking loud and fast. I couldn't make out any of the words this time, but I felt myself starting to move. The table was actually a gurney and I was being wheeled out of the room and down another corridor. To where, my fuzzy, and now sedated mind, had no idea.

The white stripes of the ceiling lights flashed past my eyes, but the same two faces remained by my side the whole way. Only when the gurney turned a corner and through a door did they vanish, and as soon as they did, sleep caught up with me and I drifted off again.

…

"Lift your head, and look out the window. Stay that way for the rest of the day and watch the time go."

I came back to the sound of singing.

"Listen, the birds sing."

A woman's voice, clear but very quiet, almost like they were whispering the words.

"Listen, the bells ring."

I tried to open my eyes, but decided against it at the last second, as the singing continued.

"All the living are dead, and the dead are all living."

I wanted to just do nothing but listen to that voice for the rest of time.

"The war is over and we are beginning."

It was probably the most beautiful singing voice I'd ever heard. Who it could have been was the last thing on my mind as I just lay and fought back a smile. I didn't want whoever was there to notice I was awake, in case they stopped singing.

"It starts up in our bedroom after the war."

After this, the voice was replaced with a soft hum, the melody of the song. And now, I opened my eyes.

"Hiccup!"

No sooner had the ceiling lights come into focus, they were suddenly blocked out again by someone throwing their arms over me in an embrace. A sea of blonde surrounded me and I turned my face into it as the person pulled away.

"Rapunzel?"

"Oh my god Hiccup, you're finally awake!" Her face was streaked with tears. Well, what was left of her face. A large white eye patch was covering up one of her eyes.

The one that had been removed…

"Rapunzel, I'm sorry." I couldn't stop the flood of tears that left my own eyes this time. Rapunzel looked like she hadn't slept in days and her beautiful blonde hair was dull and greasy, but still pretty somehow.. She just had one of those faces, I supposed. _Had_ one of those faces...

Rapunzel hugged me closer to her and ran a hand through my hair. "You haven't got anything to be sorry for, Hiccup. It's Pitch Black's fault. All of this is his fault."

I winced at that name. Pitch Black. That bastard. It was all his fault… wasn't it? He'd been the one to put all of us in that death game, but had he ever actually done anything to us? Only tattooing Jack and forcing me to drink that nightmare stuff had been directly him…

Tooth had been shot by a guard. Flynn had been stabbed by Merida. Aster- I wasn't sure how he'd died, but Pitch hadn't been in the room. And Merida technically lit the firecracker herself. Gothel had taken Rapunzel's eye and I had stabbed her in the leg. Astrid had stabbed me and amputated my leg-

Holy shit my leg!

I pushed Rapunzel away suddenly to look down. My lower half was under a thick blanket but I could clearly see the severe lack of body on the left side of my body. So that was a thing… It wasn't just a nightmare.

"The doctors did a great job cleaning it all up." Rapunzel was trying to reassure me. "It got pretty infected from being untreated for so long, but it's totally fine now."

"Except it's not there…" I grumbled.

"Well uh, yeah. Apart from that tiny detail…" Rapunzel forced a smile, and I found myself laughing. Not at the joke, but at her pathetic attempt to make such a situation funny. There was literally nothing funny about any of this, but something about the look of desperation on her face made me smile.

"How long have I been-?"

"Asleep?" Rapunzel asked, thankful for the subject change. "Almost two days now."

Damn. I'd lost two days… I wondered if my Dad knew where I was.

My original thought train hit home just then. Had Pitch been responsible? Yes. Yes, he had… Hadn't he? It was all us, if we were to look at it technically. He didn't actually kill any of us himself. That must have been his plan from the get-go. To make us do everything ourselves. The sadistic prick.

I scowled and clenched my fists in the sheets covering me.

"You okay?" Rapunzel's soft voice brought me back again.

I nodded, then perked up quickly. "Where are Jack and Astrid?"

"Astrid's right there." Rapunzel pointed across me and I followed her finger to see Astrid curled up asleep in a chair in the corner of the room. Apart from a thick cast around her arm and a few bandages on her arms and neck, she looked okay.

I turned back to Rapunzel, silently asking her about Jack.

"Jack's still asleep too."

"Where?"

"In another room."

"I need to see him." I said, pulling back the covers and swinging my legs- leg, over the bed.

"The doctor said you're not supposed to get out of bed until he checks you over first!" Rapunzel rushed around to me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"But I'm fine. Look at me." I retorted, trying to push her away.

"Even if you could leave, how are you going to get- find him?"

I could tell she'd stopped herself from saying something else, but ignored it. Glancing around the room, I spotted a wheelchair folded up by the door. "Could you pass that to me?"

Rapunzel looked between me and the chair, biting her lip. "You really shouldn't be out of bed."

"Please Rapunzel. I just want to see Jack." I stared at her.

Her eyes flicked between mine, my leg and the door before she sighed and walked over to grab the chair. I noticed she limped a little with each step.

"Thank you." I said as she unfolded it and held it still in front of me. It took a lot of strength to pull my aching body out of the covers and into the chair, but when I did, I couldn't help but do a little fist pump of triumph. I went to grab the wheels before Rapunzel stopped me.

"I know where he is. You'll get lost in here without me." She smiled, and pushed the chair forward slowly.

"But what about your leg?"

She huffed. "You're seriously worrying about _my_ leg right now?"

"Well, what about Astrid?"

"She'll be fine. She's been asleep for hours now." We both watched her as Rapunzel wheeled me out into the corridor. "Okay, if you see a guy with blond hair and blue eyes, tell me."

"That could literally be anyone…" I frowned.

"Okay, a guy with blond hair, blue eyes, and a stethoscope round his neck."

"That could still be any doctor in this place…"

"Alright, if you see any doctors with blond hair, just give me a signal or something and we'll hide."

I shook my head. This was a terrible plan. Strangely enough though, we managed to make it through about seven corridors without seeing a single blond doctor. Many of the people we did see though, had faces of shock and even sympathy when they saw me. I heard a kid whispering way too loudly to his mum, asking what was wrong with me.

So that's me now… The guy who causes kids to ask their parents awkward questions. The freak who doesn't fit in with the rest. My life was never going to be the same again. And it was all Pitch Black's fault.

That bastard.

"Hiccup?"

"Hmm?" I had to crane my neck to turn and look at her.

"He's in here." Rapunzel had stopped the wheelchair next to a door. It was grey, like the rest of the walls, with a small square frosted glass panel next to the handle.

I reached out and turned the handle, apprehensive as the door started to open. The room beyond, to my surprise, was dark. As Rapunzel brought the wheelchair in, I saw that the lights had been dimmed. It was possible to make out the shape of a bed, headboard against the wall. Rapunzel parked me in the chair next to the bed, and then scurried off to the light switch. As she fiddled with it, the lights brightened slightly and I could make out the figure lying motionless in the bed.

"Jack?"

His head was wound up in a thick bandage, and almost every inch of his torso and arms were covered in bandages too, but underneath that, it was definitely Jack.

A very much unconscious Jack.

"C-can I have a minute?" I asked Rapunzel, desperately trying to keep my voice steady.

"Uh, yeah sure. But Hiccup- I should probably tell you something first."

"Can it wait? Please, I just want a few minutes with him."

I could actually see Rapunzel's heart break. She closed her eyes and nodded briefly before leaving and closing the door behind her.

I stared after her at the door for a few seconds longer before turning back to Jack. He looked, in a word, peaceful. His hair, striking white and unique, was dirty, turning reddish-brown at the roots, whether from his natural hair colour coming through or from the blood, I wasn't sure. As I stared, I tried to remember what had been the last thing he'd said to me, or me to him. He'd been trying to stop Pitch from attacking me… He'd gotten into all this mess by trying to help me.

"Jack… I'm so sorry." I cried out loud now. "I didn't know what to do. I don't know what to do now. You've been so kind to me for all the time we've known each other, and helped me and protected me, and I've done nothing in return. I don't know how to help you. Or any of the others. I couldn't- I didn't save any of them. It's my fault you're hurt. I'm- I'm so sorry I didn't do more…" I had my head in my hands now, leaning on the edge of the bed. "Jack, please wake up. Please be okay. I couldn't save any of them. At least let me save you."

Jack didn't respond. His gentle rising and falling chest was all I had for comfort in this lonely room. His chest and the beeping of several machines surrounding him. I only noticed them now, and began looking at them as I wiped my eyes on my wrist. They all looked like the machines you'd expect to see in a hospital, with pulsing lines and beeps for each heartbeat, and then some I didn't recognise at all. All of them were hooked up to Jack in some way though, and I realised he had at least six needles in his arms, three in each, all doing different things. He also had some wires trailing away from pads on his temples. They were recording his brain activity? Why would they be needing to do that?

Jack was just asleep, right?

"No, please! Give him just a minute in there-!" I was cut off from my thoughts by Rapunzel's cry as the door was thrown open by none other than the blond haired, blue eyed, stethoscope wearing doctor she'd warned me about.

"What are you doing out of bed? And in here?" He hurried over and grabbed the wheelchair handles. "You need to rest, Hiccup."

"What's wrong with Jack?" I blurted out, gripping the wheels so the chair couldn't be moved.

The doctor paused.

"Why hasn't he woken up yet? And what's with all those machines?" I pressed on.

"You only just woke up yourself, didn't you?" The doctor said quietly, eyebrows knitting together in sympathy.

"Why?"

"Hiccup. I'm afraid Mr Frost has been unresponsive since he was brought in with you two days ago."

"What d'you mean?" I could feel my heartbeat speeding up and my breathing hitching slightly.

"Jack Frost is, as far as we can tell, in a coma."

...

 **DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN**

 **I would like to formally apologise for the shitty chapter, but I've been reading a lot of hurt/comfort angsty fics recently and with the Yuri on Ice finale still on my mind, I needed to vent.**

 **Christmas was a thing... That flew by, didn't it? I hope you all had a great time and are enjoying the winter season! Also, fun fact, I'm turning 18 in exactly three weeks. WHAT! I'm not ready to be an adult! I still can't walk around my house at night unless every light is on and I'm humming to myself...**

 **Shoutouts**

 **night of fury: It seems you binge read this... Am i right? Hope you liked and yeah *cough* it was fun *cough* to write Pitch as such a sadist. There won't be much more of Pitch in coming chapters, I don't think... or will there?**

 **george doughty: Thanks! I think BH6 is one of my favourite Disney movies of all time, right after Tarzan and Princess and the Frog. Wasabi is also my favourite one of the heroes from BH6, unless Tadashi counts... (I hope they bring him back for BH7!)**

 **pikianoa: Your stories are awesome! I think I binge read all of them in one night! Hope your computer is fixed soon and thnks for reviewing x**

 **spnwinchester125: Okay I might have been exaggerating on the horrors... but this was pretty evil, right? Thanks so much for the compliments too. I've kinda started to think my writing style is getting boring, so hearing reviews like that make me remember that it's usually only boring for me because I've had to proof read it like 10 billion times... Thanks for reviewing and I hoe you liked the chapter x**

 **AlyssaJ-DaughterOfTheStars: Right? Right? Right? Are you sure you're right about that one? Even I'm not sure where this story is going so get ready for anything! Thanks for reviewing x**

 **Raxacoricofallapatoreus: Jesus Christ, your username! It's murder to write, even though I love it! Also um, pls don't die. I really don't want to be guilty of manslaughter... especialy now that I'm studying law. It'd be slightly awkward.**

 **girlmixi: Hilly and Hannah are amazing! Yes, I adore all of their parodies so much! I think the Walking Dead one has to be my favourite, or the new Sherlock one. I still haven't actually finished reading the Warm Bodies book yet, which is annoying because I want to watch the movie after I've finished the book, but it's taking aaaaages. It's just really hard to sit down and get into, y'know? Anyways, yes I'm okay and thanks for checking up on me. It really makes me happy when readers come back to check on my story because I know I always do it on others and they usually don't reply. Thanks for reviewing and I hope you liked xxx**

 **I am a Spoon not a Fork: I'm really starting to regret killing off Tadashi now... I was obviously having a really bad day when I wrote it and needed to kill something I love. But yeah, about Pitch... hmm... hmm... Hiccup doesn't know yet, therefore you won't until he does! muahaha btw thanks for reviewing and I do love your username x**

 **Snowflakesandangels: Damn, before I even read it, that's one hell of a review. The ship has sailed, but whoever said it wasn't a ghost ship? It may be too soon to tell... Yeah, I like to include BH6 and Frozen in the whole big 4 fandom (or would that be big 6?) just so I can have more characters to play about with, as you could probably tell from my other stories... I was genuinely touched by your review, as I always am, when you mentioned all those authors. I am not in any league to be being compared to queens like Mary Shelley and Ellis Peters, damn... But thank you so much for it. It really made my day! Hope you liked this one and thanks for reviewing xx**

 **Sion: I do love a good bit of BH6... Thanks for reviewing x (twice?)**

 **Okay so that was chapter 22. I certainly was not expecting this fic to go on this long, especially since I started it in April and it's now almost January. Thank you to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed. We're on the home stretch now, it appears!**


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